Sue knits and spins

Doubleweave sampler

2011-01-27T23:16:00.002Z

Late last year, I worked on this sampler from the book Doubleweave by Jennifer Moore. I used no.5 pearl cotton sett at 30epi (15 per layer). The sampler covers all kinds of 4 shaft doubleweave, and I enjoyed weaving it. Above are assorted small sections, some open sided, some tubular, some using colour and weave effects. Below is stuffed horizontal ribs, quilting, leno and brooks bouquet.

This is doubleweave pickup which takes a long time, but is very satisfying to do. Once the current towels are done, I'm planning another doubleweave project.

Still busy

2011-01-16T22:51:00.007Z

Blogging hasn't been at the top of my to do list for a while, but since it is a really good way to keep track of my crafty projects, I thought I'd better start posting again. I'm going to start with current projects and work backwards. Whether I'll get through the backlog is doubtful, but we'll see.

On the loom is the third tea towel of this warp of 3/14 cotton.

These are the first two off the loom. I had to re-beam the warp because of uneven tension - when I originally beamed it, the lease sticks were continually causing snags and tangles. Maybe next time I'll warp front to back. The draft is from Twill Thrills p79, Alice Schlein's network drafted twill on 8 shafts.

On the needles is a Norah Gaughan design, Drift. I don't have pictures yet, one sleeve (swatch) is done, and the back is started. I'm using Twilleys of Stamford Freedom Spirit in a reddish colourway.

On the hook is a ripple scarf in Noro Silk Garden sock yarn. There have been a couple of knots which has been a nuisance, but so far I've managed to maintain the colour sequence.

A recently completed item is the Girl Friday cardi from Knitty. I altered the neck shaping so that the neck width was wider, and the shoulder seams sit correctly. However, the sleeves are narrow, so if I was to knit it again, I would make them wider. All the same it is a lovely cardi.

A gentle nudge

2010-09-23T16:45:00.013+01:00

I'm still here, just not very active blogwise. A dear friend emailed me yesterday to ask if I was alright because I hadn't updated for so long. So, here I am.

I can't even remember everything I've achieved in the last few months, but this post will include those things that I have pictures of.

This is Haruni, knitted with my own hand dyed and hand spun merino and silk blend yarn.

I only just made it...

The shawl isn't very big, but it makes me happy.

Cubist socks by Cookie A. These were a free pattern from Knitting Daily. They look better when worn, since the stitch pattern causes them to look distorted. There have been a couple of other pairs of socks, but they didn't make the photoshoot yet.

Stash enhancement has been going on. This is some of the Araucania multy sock yarn I acquired to knit some lightweight sweaters. Sadly I'm back to the beginning again, since my swatch lied, and the twisted rib was indeed twisted/biased. I suspect that working in the round is the culprit with the rib, worked back and forth it usually looks fine.

I hadn't tried tapestry crochet before, but this is a Mukluk in progress. The pattern is from an Inside Crochet magazine. I had to go up several hook sizes to get gauge, finally settling on 3.5mm with DK yarn.

I had a play with Huck lace, and had great difficulty with getting the ppi even. Maybe I should have made the sett more dense. I do better when I can beat as opposed to pressing the warp into place gently.
On the loom at the moment is a very narrow warp in no.8 pearl cotton for bookmarks in various twill patterns.

Weaving whenever I can

2010-05-17T22:46:00.009+01:00

I've been making some better progress on the towel warp lately, the fourth and last is about a third done. These pictures show the transition between numbers three and four. Weaving on a table loom isn't terribly fast, but it's very versatile, since an eight shaft floor loom usually has only ten treadles, and the networked twill needs more. I'm able to weave the more complex pattern easily. As a comparison, I used the floor loom 'treadling' for the third towel, but I prefer the cut and paste liftplan shown in the article by Alice Schlein.

This is the inkle strap I made for hubby's neckstrap. Mission accomplished!
Having got the inkle bug, I've branched out into tablet weaving too. My first sampler is still on the inkle loom, and I'll take pictures once it's off.

I rough blocked the back of the Printed Silk cardigan and it grew as expected to almost exactly the desired size, so I've now cast on for the left front knowing that the small size should be big enough. The first attempt with a ribbed band was ripped when the ribbed edge was longer than the stocking stitch. In a floppy yarn like this, it was going to look awful. Now I'm knitting it with a garter band and will alter the pattern to a V neck. The low round neck isn't really me.

Purple yarn and Inkle loom

2010-05-08T22:54:00.006+01:00

This is about 660m of two ply merino. I thought I would have had more length, but no. I think this will make a nice lacy scarf or small shawl sometime.

This is what happens when you let your hubby loose with felt pens and graph paper. Two inkle bands which are now joined together to make a neck strap for a model helicopter remote control unit. The loom was built earlier this year, but I haven't mentioned it until now. The frame is white oak with hardwood dowels. I finished it with Danish oil and it's very nice. The bands are made of DMC Petra no.5 cotton, each thread yields about 0.5mm width of band. This is the third project I've done, and it really goes very quickly once you get the rhythm.

Slow Knitting

2010-04-25T12:23:00.003+01:00

The Printed Silk cardi has grown a bit. I'm now on the twisted stitch pattern for the yoke and the knitting is slower. The yarn is very splitty, so I'm having to be very careful working the twists.

It's been a long time since I did any spinning, but I haven't quite forgotten how. I finished the purple merino and the pinky merino singles which I dyed last July and have plied them. I have about 180g which is now drying. I'll measure the skeins and calculate the yardage tomorrow.

Weaving has also been happening. I'm about two thirds through the second towel now which has a red weft.

What looks like an error half way up this picture is due to me not beating hard enough at that spot. I didn't even notice it in the actual weaving at the time, but it shows up in the photo.

Snow Queen

2010-04-24T23:08:00.000+01:00

It's finished and blocked. The finished size is 50" across. To summarize, I used the I-cord circular start with 3.25mm needles, changing to 3.5mm for most of it, and 3.75mm for the last 25 rounds. The clear beads are 8/0 Crystal AB Matsuno seed beads, and the blue ones are Frosted light blue AB Matsuno seed beads. I used 97g of the beads in total and 140g of the white 2 ply botany wool (no idea of the yardage).

Weaving steadily, knitting and crochet too

2010-04-18T19:29:00.011+01:00

I've been making progress on various projects lately, but haven't managed to get an opportunity to blog about them, not helped by the lack of photos. My Snow Queen shawl is getting larger, and I'm on the last chart now. It's just a big blob, so no picture yet. Other knitting news involves a Printed Silk cardigan started. I've only managed to do a few inches on the back so far, but it's looking good. I'm using Sirdar Just Soya DK in the Spinach colourway. I swatched with 3.75mm needles and got gauge, but when I washed the swatch it grew a lot. So I cast on with 3.5mm needles for a smaller size and I'm hoping for the best.

I also finished a crocheted sweater which needs a photo shoot yet. Because I like to crochet, I started another garment, this time a top down raglan cardigan. The yarn is Sirdar Countrystyle in a brightish green, and I'm using a 4.5mm hook. I'm designing it as I go along.

I warped the loom with some 4 ply acrylic/wool yarn for a seat cover and cushion cover. I threaded it for an 8 shaft straight draw, and sampled a few twill patterns before settling on one for the seat cover, and a different one for the cushion. The colour scheme is not my favourite, but it needs to emulate the existing one which is brown. The sett is 15 epi.

Here is my very first broken warp thread, well actually it frayed rather than broke, but I fixed it okay. Also visible is my tally counter. I press once per pick and can then find out where I am if my concentration is broken. My sliding beater is working really well, it's the best improvement we could have made to this loom. This fabric is off the loom now and washed and steamed, ready for sewing.

I wanted to weave some more tea towels since I've been using the rigid heddle ones all the time, and it's lovely to be handling your handiwork on a daily basis. So when I discovered this project article on the Interweave site I just had to follow it up. I'd heard about network drafting and wondered what it is and the article removes some of the mystery. I've been buying some cones of 3/14 combed cotton in various colours and it should work well for towels so I put on a 4m warp back to front at 25 epi using my new raddle, and have started weaving the first towel after trying a few different weft colours. My temple finally arrived after a 3 month wait so I'm using a temple for the first time and it really helps with keeping the selvedge threads straight for beating. I decided on navy weft for the first towel, and I'm about half way through it now.

Overshot

2010-03-16T13:39:00.006Z

It amazed me when I measured the fabric I'd woven for some armchair arm protectors when the sizes matched precisely. Maybe I'm getting more consistent in my beating. This is overshot on 4 shafts and there are two pairs each with a different pattern. I'm so glad I bought a walking foot for my sewing machine, because it makes hemming so much easier.

The warp and tabby weft are 3/14 combed cotton and the pattern weft is no.5 perle cotton. 20 epi and 40 ppi.

Finally, a picture of the most recent socks in progress, plain stocking stitch on 2.75mm needles. The yarn is 4 Seasons, but I can't find the ball band for any more details.

The Snow Queen shawl is making steady progress, I'm now nearly one third through chart F.

Hibernating

2010-03-06T22:39:00.011Z

Since my last post, I've been working on a few things, mainly weaving related, with some knitting too. I finished the Regia cotton socks I started in January, mainly stocking stitch with a little purl patterning. 2.5mm needles, 64sts.

This is my TopsyTurvy Moebius (Ravelry link) finished complete with I-cord bind off. I did 3 pattern repeats and I've worn it outside a couple of times under my coat. It really kept my front warm!

I finally caved when confronted with the Snow Queen Shawl knitalong (Ravelry link) hosted by BadCat designs. I haven't knit any lace shawls for a while, and even though I don't get much use from them, I still like knitting them. The design as written uses a lot of nupps, but I'm using beads instead. Where the pattern has beads, I'm using different beads. They don't show up very well in this picture, but spreading it out properly isn't easy at the moment. The clear beads are 8/0 Crystal AB Matsuno seed beads, and the blue ones are Frosted light blue AB Matsuno seed beads. Click for bigger. I've reached row 7 of chart F so far.

Now for the weaving. Last time I had just got the loom warped for a twill sampler, using threadings etc from 'A Weaver's Book of 8 shaft Patterns' edited by Carol Strickler. The patterns are nos. 323 - 332. There are six different threadings and ten different tie up and treadling combinations. In my case read lever selections for tie up and treadling.

This is the top of the piece as woven. Notice the wider fabric where there were fewer long floats. The yarn is DMC Petra no.5 cotton sett at 17.5 epi. I'd started with 20 epi, but couldn't manage to get a balanced weave, so I resleyed after sampling. It was a useful learning experience and the thrill of all those patterns miraculously appearing was marvellous.

Since then, my hubby has designed and made a superb upgrade for my loom in the form of a sliding beater assembly, so that every beat is made at 90 degrees to the cloth, and also has the benefit of getting the reed very close to the castle to maximise the shed. It moves very easily, and is a major improvement. This is the warp currently on the loom. It's overshot on 4 shafts using 3/14 cotton for the warp and tabby weft at 20 epi, with more of the DMC Petra no.5 pearl cotton for the pattern weft. I've taken to keeping a mirror handy for checking the back side of the cloth, those pattern wefts have a habit of being a bit loopy sometimes.

Welcome 2010

2010-01-01T22:59:00.009Z

I spent most of today playing with my new to me loom. I had a 4 shaft Varpapuu table loom for Christmas, and hubby and I have been building a new replacement castle with 8 shafts for it. I had tried it with a very small warp and it was working well, so I've wound a cotton warp for a twill sampler or gamp. Today was the day for getting it threaded and wound on. I had eventual success, although it took a while. I discovered two errors in threading and with the help of a string heddle, all is now well.

In progress...

Ready to go....

The black/multi scarves are off the Kromski which is now folded up and having a rest. One is still waiting for fringe twisting, although the other is now living with my sister in law.

Meg of the blog Unravelling has asked for pictures of looms as they are today. So, these are my two.
The Topsy Turvy moebius is done. It took a couple of evenings to work the I-cord cast off all around, and I'll get a picture once it's been washed and blocked. How do you block a moebius without putting creases in?
I also finished my Round ripple afghan which I began almost 2 years ago.

It ended up about 50" across the points. This is aran weight acrylic/wool blend yarn with a 6mm hook.

Slow

2009-12-10T22:35:00.004Z

I'm still here, just not with much to show for my efforts lately. The adirondack socks have stalled. I finished one and started the second only to discover that they are not comfortable underfoot. The stitch used is elongated single crochet worked in the round and in a more springy yarn it might be fine, but the bamboo yarn I used is more firm and not squishy at all. So, I'll probably rip and use the yarn for something else.

The woven scarves are taking forever, although the end is in sight now which is just as well, since one of them is earmarked for a gift.

I started a sweater in green with a lacy pattern copied from one I knitted years ago from a Sandra magazine. The back is done, but the front is waiting for me to work out the neck shaping before I continue.

I started a Topsy Turvy Moebius scarf in a fluffy grey yarn (Stylecraft Pavlova) and I'm just about ready to start the second ball now.

I'm a good bit further on that this picture shows, but it shows the twist quite well.

Apart from a simple plain pair of socks which match colourwise within a few stitches, I think that's about it. Ooh, I forgot the hat I just cast on for my son, this is in very chunky yarn on 7mm needles, and I hope I've got the size right.

The most exciting news is that I'm getting a table loom for Christmas, well I actually have it now, but we are building a new castle for it with 8 shafts to replace the 4 it came with. Hopefully, I'll be up and running before long.

Finished objects

2009-10-25T11:39:00.008Z

I finally got some pictures taken of two projects just completed. The Balletneck sweater from the book 'Crochet that fits' by Mary Jane Hall has turned out well, although I should probably have made the body a bit smaller and the sleeves a bit wider. Still, it fits pretty well overall, and I'm pleased with it.

This is the yoke which I altered from the pattern. As written, it was far too large and wouldn't stay on my shoulders, so I went down a hook size and decreased more drastically. I also worked more rounds to give more depth.

The other fo is a top down raglan cardigan. This is plain stocking stitch (5mm needles) and 2x2 ribbing (4.5mm needles for all ribbing except the sleeve cuffs which used 4mm). The yarn, Jojoland Rhythm, is made up of 4 plies, each one changing colour gradually along the length, so the permutations are nearly endless. I used nearly all of the 10 balls of yarn. Before I began, I wound all the balls on the wool winder just so I could see the colour variations along the length of each one. I spent ages trying to work out the sequence which would produce the least sudden change in colours when changing balls.

I still have to sew on the buttons, but it's blocked and dry, so I'll get them done later.

Busy

2009-10-18T22:50:00.005+01:00

I've been quiet for a while because we've been doing some work around the house which needed doing. Home improvements and yarn don't really mix very well.

I wove a couple more teatowels using no.10 crochet cotton, one peach end in each hole and two white ends in each slot with the 12.5 dpi heddle. The left most one is plain weave with differing numbers of picks of the two colours. The one on the right is my favourite waffle type weave in broad stripes. They are a bit floppy, but will be useable I think.

Today I warped up with some acrylic 4 ply (Denis Brunton Magicolor) for a couple of scarves, maybe for gifts if they turn out okay. This is a colour changing yarn, with one ply being black the other more colourful. I'm using black for the weft. I'm using the 12.5dpi heddle and beating very gently for a balanced weave. A side effect of this warp is the faux twill effect of the spots of colour which appear to shift and move on the diagonal. It doesn't show up much in the picture, but is quite striking in reality.

I have finished the crocheted Balletneck sweater, but have no pictures yet. However, I do have one of my attempt at an Adirondack sock from the current Interweave Crochet mag (Fall '09).
The yarn is Wendy Happy, a bamboo yarn, and I'm using a 3.25mm hook.

My top down raglan cardigan is almost done, I've just started knitting the band and then I have to find buttons.

I finished the Baktus - just

2009-09-20T22:40:00.011+01:00

Yes, the Baktus scarf is done. I ran out of yarn with about three inches still to go, even though I started the decreases with more than half the weight of yarn remaining. I was considering ripping back to before halfway and reknitting, when I remembered that I had a few metres of 2 ply made from the leftover singles when I 3 plyed the original yarn. Undaunted and with reassurance from members of a Yahoo group I'm in, I unplied and then navajo plied these singles, giving plenty of yarn to finish with.

The remains of the spa washcloth warp were woven with a variety of chunky knitting yarns, one section with assorted brown and rust yarns, and one with some blue with flecks. The latter I made into a small bag with a crocheted handle. I knotted the warp ends and folded the knotted edge to the outside.

The side seams were achieved with a length of warp threaded through the selvedge loops which worked well.

The other piece had each warp end threaded up the adjacent warp. This took ages, but if you don't want fringe or hems, it's a useful way to finish a piece. This was a total freestyle effort, using odds and ends of chunky yarn. It turned out a bit weft faced. I might make another bag from this sometime.

Last week, DH and I set about renewing the webbing on my armchair. To start with it involved removing a lot of staples and tacks before stapling new webbing in place. Initially we just had four webs in each direction in a tidy plain weave. This seemed a bit soft, so DH suggested adding more webs. What weave structure to use? Well, I don't know what it's called, but I like it.

Knitting has been going on. I began a top down raglan cardigan using Jojoland Rhythm yarn in a blue/beige colourway on 5mm needles.

I'm a bit further along than this picture shows but so far it's all stocking stitch and the colours are shading nicely.

This is a crocheted doily in progress, which I recently dug out of hibernation and have been pressing on with. There's still quite a bit to do on it.

I'm working on the first sleeve of the crocheted balletneck sweater, but it still looks like a brown blob, so no picture.

Since I like to have a sock on the go, I started a plain top down one in Online sock yarn, 2.75mm needle and 64 sts.

More updates

2009-08-27T12:37:00.016+01:00

First off, I blocked my Equinox shawl yesterday. It turned out to have a radius of 32", and I'm happy with it. I nearly used up my entire tub of pins on the zillions of crocheted cast off loops.

I also finished the batch of three tea towels which I'd been weaving for a while. They turned out better than I thought they would, and I've been using them for actual drying up. This was a wrench to start with, but what is the point of making functional type textiles if you aren't going to use them?

I warped with two strands in each slot and one in each hole for 15 epi. The middle picture shows the waffle type weave which I used for the second towel. The weft was the same - 1 pick in one shed and 2 picks in the other. The other two used different pick up stick patterns, the third one pictured above is all over waffle type weave and it is really squishy.

Next up is the Spa cloth project from Weavezine . The loom was empty when this project was published, and I have quite a bit of thick cotton, so I thought I'd have a go. My first attempt was okay, but I was concerned that the pile loops wouldn't be very secure, so I started again, beating harder for a weft dominant fabric. I'm worried that if a loop gets pulled, it will end up a long loop too easily.

Still not convinced it would hold together, I cut this off the loom to finish it before continuing with more of them.

Above is the reverse side and below is the top before I put it in the washing machine (in a mesh bag).
Currently it is drying, and the loops are still there! How it will stand up to use remains to be seen. Warp is Twilleys Handicraft cotton and weft is Rowan Handknit cotton using a 7.5 dpi heddle.

This is about 40g of merino, so there is still 160g to go, before I get to plying. It is going to take a while I think.

Here is the front in progress of the Balletneck sweater from the book Crochet that Fits, by Mary Jane Hall. I'm using Sirdar Countrystyle double crepe DK which has been in the stash for a long time. The hook size is 4.5mm and gauge is different from the pattern, so I'm having to recalculate as usual. So far so good.

Knitting backlog

2009-08-21T11:55:00.013+01:00

I've known for some time that the reason for my sporadic posting is that I prefer to include photos of current wips. Since my picture taking tends to happen only occasionally, infrequent updates are the result.

Anyhow, here goes:
I have two pairs of socks finished. The first are knitted with Wendy Happy which is a bamboo yarn. The pattern is a variation of Wendyknits Seaweed socks. They turned out quite well, but the colour does run in the wash unfortunately.

Just finished are the Wendyknits Sunrise socks. These I like a lot. Merino wool on 3mm needles.
The purple stripes line up on the heels and I had nothing to do with it.

The orange triangle is my Baktus scarf just past the halfway point. The yarn is 250m of hand dyed, hand spun 3 ply superwash BFL. I was getting impatient to use some of my handspun, because, hidden away in the stash I wasn't getting the pleasure of seeing and handling it. It was a bit thick for socks and short on yardage probably, so the idea of using it this way was great. I started decreasing when 51g of the 100g was left, so I should be okay. I bet I'll still be knitting faster just to make sure I have enough!

Other knitting has been going on too. I started a Lotus Blossom tank, using Sirdar Denim dk. Sadly not all the balls were the same dyelot, ( I know I was being optimistic and to be fair the balls did look the same everytime I scrutinised them) but there is an obvious difference when knitted and I will be ripping this one unless I try striping two balls together. No decision yet.

The next FO I haven't mentioned before. It's the Vernal Equinox Surprise shawl. This is available as a free download on Ravelry. I cast on on a whim and somehow I kept going. It isn't blocked yet, but hopefully it will be soon. It took just over 800m of sock weight yarn on 4.5mm needles. I omitted one pattern repeat on I think clue 5, and finished with just 4 feet of yarn left.

I have some weaving, spinning and crochet to document too, but that will be for another time. I have to go and make lunch.

Dyeing and knitting

2009-07-27T23:16:00.007+01:00

Weaving has been slow lately, the third towel is in progress and I can't wait for it to be done, because I really want to be weaving something else. For a change I had a go at dyeing some merino tops. I took 2 lots of 100g and dyed one in a semisolid purple and the other piece I splodged with several pinky purpley shades. The plan is to spin each one into fine singles and then ply them together.

I've made a start on one half and it's going quite well. Previously I finished spinning some alpaca fleece that I bought soon after I got my wheel. The drum carder really speeded up the preparation.

This is heavy DK weight 2 ply. The paler skein is some of the lighter parts of the fleece which I separated from the rest. I've put it in the handspun stash to mature. I have some more of this which I spun ages ago. I don't think there's enough for a sweater without adding some of another colour.

Here we have one and a bit Sunrise socks. This is such a simple stitch pattern and it really adds texture and changes the look of the yarn patterning nicely. The yarn is merino from YarnAddict Anni, and it is very nice to work with.

Unobservant weaver

2009-07-12T23:15:00.005+01:00

I don't know how I missed it, but when I used the pick up stick on this towel, I managed to catch one thread wrongly. To be fair it isn't at all obvious on the right side. This warp has given me a lot of tension troubles. I think my warping technique will have to improve. I'm using crochet cotton with two ends in each slot and one in each hole. I warped front to back and when I wound on, there were tangles. Apart from that, even though I tied on at the front with the heddle raised, after a few inches of weaving the slot threads became loose compared with the hole threads. I cut this towel off and tied on again, and the same thing is happening with the second towel. Frankly, I'm puzzled. In an effort to keep the edges neat and reduce draw in, I tried a makeshift temple consisting of some kumihimo weights, nuts, and some hooks intended for hanging ribber weights when machine knitting.

I decided to just go for it and gently pulled out the offending warp thread and rewove it. It was only about 2 feet long and took 10 minutes. You'd never know.

Plaid

2009-06-21T22:55:00.009+01:00

I seem to be a bit behind with blogging again ( I love how Bloggers' spellcheck doesn't recognise 'blogging' ) Anyway, I nearly have a finished pair of socks, once I can decide what kind of cast off to use. I normally knit top down socks and don't have this problem. My Cabled Spiral 2 sweater was finished ages ago, and I forgot to mention it. I haven't managed to get any good pictures of it yet anyway, I'll have to try again. The crocheted top (Forest Flower top) is also nearly done. I just have to finish the edges and work in the ends.

These are a couple of the mats I made, using patterns made using the pickup stick. The yarn is a 4 ply cotton (8/4) sett at 12.5 dpi. I could have done with weaving the hems with a thinner yarn, but I didn't have anything that matched, so the hem on the top one is a bit bulky. The lower one I hem stitched, but I don't think it will be very durable. These are really only samples, which may come in useful as mats.

The plaid is done. I ended up with about 39" length,11.25" wide. The cotton is 4 ply and I used the 12.5 dpi heddle. This may be the raw material for a small zippered bag. I kept all the colour changes on one side and once it was off the loom I machine zigzagged along that edge before washing it.

Weaving

2009-06-03T15:48:00.003+01:00

Here we have a selection of pick up stick patterns. What a great way to get some texture! I'll be dividing this length up into assorted mats and hemming them. My favourite so far is waffle weave and I want to try that with some warp stripes some time. Some of the warp threads get deflected and if they were in another colour, I think it would look way more complicated than it is.

I just got started on some plaid. Initially I warped with two heddles to try some double weave, which I managed okay, but the cotton was sticking in the slots and getting a clean shed was annoyingly difficult. I wove a few inches and abandoned the project. I then removed half of the warp and retied to try a few twill patterns, but the sett was wrong for that, so I abandoned that too. I removed the warp and measured some more to go with it, and threaded the 12.5dpi heddle for plain weave. I have had this 4 ply cotton for a while and it suggested a plaid pattern, so here it is. I'm aiming for a balanced weave, and so far the squares aren't too far off square.

Getting up to date

2009-05-16T22:53:00.008+01:00

Having finished the crocheted Simply Spring top recently, I was tempted to start another summer top. I've had some Emu Perle (acrylic which looks like perle cotton, light DK weight) in the stash for ages in several colours and I've used some of it for other tops. This time lilac was the choice, and the pattern I'm using as a starting point is the cover design of the latest Interweave Crochet magazine (Spring 2009). Instead of the flowered yoke I will have a try at working a more solid circular yoke. So far I nearly have half a front done and the fabric is very pleasing. I'm using a 5mm hook.

My interest in various yarny pursuits fluctuates with time, and at the moment crochet is pushing its way to the front. This was why I ordered some more Clover soft touch hooks to fill in the gaps of my set. When they first came out, I bought the set which covered 2.5mm to 6mm in half mm increments. I just discovered that they now make the quarter mm sizes between 2mm and 4mm, along with a range of steel hooks in the smaller sizes 0.5mm to 1.75mm. So, seeing that they are my favourite hooks, I couldn't resist. Of course I had to make a case to keep them in, so I made another like my original one.

I have managed a little knitting: the neckband of the Cabled Spiral is nearly done, but I need to put the stitches on a longer needle so that I can try it on to check. I've also started a sock with the Wendy Happy bamboo/nylon yarn. I'm using Wendyknits Seaweed sock pattern with a little alteration to the lace pattern. I'm reversing the chart on alternate repeats. This is the second attempt because the first try was too big, so I'm doing the medium size now. Even on 2.5mm needles 66sts seems to be enough in this pattern.

Last but not least I finally finished spinning some superwash english wool tops which I dyed myself. It is fairly bright and it ended up about DK weight 2 ply. (223m, 91g)

Playing catch up and a Drum carder

2009-05-10T16:33:00.017+01:00

I have some FOs to report; the Monkey socks are done and I'm very happy with them. The Regia yarn is superb to work with and feels soft.

After a bit of a time out, the Simply Spring crochet top is finished too. I had to decide how to finish the neck edge and the bottom edge. the pattern has you work just one row of dc (UK terminology), but I needed a bit more depth to prevent the neckline gaping and to stop the lower edge from flaring out. In the end I worked several rounds of dc, ch1 where the dc goes into the ch space on the previous round. After washing and blocking, I'm pleased with the fit of it. Now we just need some warm weather. For a change I've finished something in advance of needing it. This won't be the case for the Cabled Spiral because by the time I finish that, it will be too warm to wear it.

I finally finished the Wendy Happy scarf and used my new hair braider gizmo to twist the fringes. It certainly saves some wear on the fingers. 36.8cm in the heddle, 35.2cm wide after finishing and 1.8m long excluding fringe.

I need to wear glasses for reading and I hang them round my neck with a made by me kumihimo cord so I don't lose them, and one of the rubber ends gave way a couple of weeks ago, so I dusted off the marudai and made a couple of new cords. I ended up using the one at the bottom, attaching it to some new rubber ends. Job done!

I've saved the best for last - I have a drum carder now. My hubby decided that he would like to build one for me quite a while ago. He is not a well man, so this has really given him something to work towards, doing a little at a time. He enjoys precision metal work, so the majority of the structure is metal with a minimum of wood! I've christened it, and it works great.

I have two doffer rods and a small carder for cleaning the cloth. The gap between the drums can be adjusted and the infeed tray can be raised and lowered. It has high quality sealed bearings and will outlast me I think.

A couple of progress pics

On the loom:
4 ply cotton at 12.5 dpi, with simple pick up stick patterning.

Repeating myself

2009-04-05T19:09:00.009+01:00

We are having to have a new central heating boiler installed after the old one stopped working over a week ago. Luckily the weather hasn't been too bad, and a couple of oil filled radiators are taking the edge off, and along with the immersion heater for water, we haven't been too badly affected. Work begins on Thursday, and we've drained the system and made a start on emptying cupboards where access will be needed. Crafting has to take a back seat for a while, but I can still fit some in.

My second Cabled Spiral sweater is still stocking stitch and no cables yet, but the body is excellent mindless knitting, and it is growing. The yarn is Emu superwash DK in a marled grey and it's very soft. I'm having to use 4.5mm needles to get gauge which is odd, but whatever works is fine with me.

This is one and a bit no purl Monkey socks. My first pair were made exactly as the pattern, but these have plain ribbing, not twisted, and a slip stitch heel instead of stocking stitch. The yarn is Regia Design Line, Kaffe Fassett colour 4260, which I think is the Caribbean colourway. I'm pretty happy with the way these are turning out. There is the occasional splodge of colour, but mostly pleasing stripey bits.

I can see a trend here, my current knitting projects include two repeated items.

Weaving-wise, currently I'm weaving a wide scarf/stole with Wendy Happy bamboo/nylon 4 ply yarn in shade Aquarius. It is threaded at 12.5 epi now having started out at 10 epi which proved to be much too airy. Weft is a dark airforce blue/ grey 3 ply wool. It's plain weave and the width on loom is 14.25".

I haven't mentioned the next ufo until now, because I wasn't sure about it early on, but I've been crocheting too. This is the Simply Spring top from Crochet! magazine May 2007. The yarn is Rowan Cashcotton DK in Sage and Parchment. I'm using a 4.5mm hook and recalculating because of the gauge difference. The back is about 75% done, so it won't be too long before it's done.

In a bit of a rush

2009-03-29T22:48:00.008+01:00

Does this remind you of anything? It's cotton which I will be making into an oven glove, hopefully with better insulation properties than my current one which lets heat through far too fast for my liking. I just wove a long strip of plain weave using the same rustic type of cotton for both warp and weft. I need to get some binding and then I'll put it together.

I really wanted to make something that used some twill patterning, so I made YAS (yet another scarf). I threaded two 10 dpi heddles in a 3 2 1 3 2 1 threading which worked out at 15 epi. I'll elaborate about the threading another time,'cos I don't have the time right now. I explored the weave drafts at Handweaving.net and found two which worked for me. I used one for about 10" at each end of the scarf and a second for the middle section. The pattern at the ends (no. 62700) was very different on each side, while the other (no. 34910) was the same on each side.

This shows the transition from one pattern to the next, the ribbon was my length guide, because I needed to know when to start the ending pattern. The yarn is 80% acrylic, 20% wool 4 ply from the machine knit stash. The finished scarf is 20cm wide and 1.82m long. On the loom it was 19cm and 2m. I always thought that woven fabric decreased in width when finished, but not mine, well not all of it. I tried twisted fringe for the first time - my poor fingers. I need to get a fringe twister if I'm going to do more of this. I love the effect though.

In knitting news, I've finished one all knit (no purls) Monkey sock, and started the second. These really are going quite fast for me. I've started another Cabled Spiral sweater because I really like the yoke, but this one has ribs for the cuffs and body. So far I have both sleeves done to the armpit and about 4" of the body completed.

I've just started weaving YAS using Wendy Happy bamboo yarn for warp, plain weave with a 3 ply wool weft. Pretty. I'll try to get some photos taken soon.

A glut of FOs

2009-03-07T22:43:00.011Z

This keeps happening to me, and I don't know why. All of a sudden, I finish projects at nearly the same time. Each time, there is a vacuum when I can't decide what to make next. I've started a Monkey sock to keep me going, after all, I have to have something to knit.

Kearsarge is done, and it fits well. This is Patons Diploma Gold DK yarn with 4mm needles, and I used less than 10 x 50g balls.

The bright kettle dyed socks are done too. These are my standard 72st 2.5mm needle socks and I like them. I won't be overdyeing them. Cold feet aren't an option wearing these!

Fulled woven bag

This is the start of a fulled bag using some Jojoland Rhythm yarn left over from a previous project and some coned wool yarn that has been vegetating in the stash for a loooong time. The Rhythm is a 4 ply with each ply changing colour along its length. I thought it would be ideal for trying the clasped weft technique. On the loom the fabric was very holey, but after fulling by hand, it closed up nicely...

and shrunk too. I just caught it at the size I wanted and then set about weaving a strap to match using the same yarns in a warp faced band.

This was also fulled and the next step was to bribe my sewing machine. One broken and two bent needles later, I had a bag. I turned under the edges of the flap and front top edge of the bag and instead of basting or pinning the raw edges before machining, I needle felted them to hold them in place. The lining has pockets and was sewed in by hand.

Twill on the rigid heddle loom

2009-02-27T09:49:00.011Z

I've been playing with 1/2 and 2/1 twill recently. I blame this book. On one of my rare forays to the shops, I visited Borders bookshop and found this, the only weaving book they had. No longer are fabric types totally mysterious. Sadly for me, the book is aimed at weavers with a 4 shaft loom, but there are a few things which are for 2. This twill isn't one of them really because it needs 3. Undaunted, I figured out the threading for extended point threading. I used two 10 dpi heddles and some red 4 ply wool/nylon yarn. I used the holes in one heddle as one shaft, the holes in the second heddle as the second and the slots in both as the third. This involved missing every 4th hole in each heddle and having either 1 or 2 threads in each slot which meant that the sett was variable.

With this setup, six different sheds are possible: front heddle up, rear heddle up, both heddles down, giving weft dominance and the opposite: front heddle down, rear heddle down, both heddles up, giving warp dominance. The patterns you can get are not what you expect to see on a rigid heddle loom. Yet again, I'm using up oddments so my trademark eclectic colourways are in evidence.

It's been fun trying this out and I may use the technique for an actual item sometime. The uneven sett doesn't really detract from the fabric, in fact it adds an extra dimension to it, especially on the chevron pattern.

Just to say that I have still been knitting, and that the second sleeve of Kearsarge was finished last night. I will have enough yarn. Phew!

It's been a while...

2009-02-18T12:02:00.013Z

Yet again it's been a month or so since I wrote anything here. Mainly because I've been weaving a lot and knitting a little. I find it difficult to find suitable blogging time for some reason. Anyway, my progress on Kearsarge has been steady, and now I just have one sleeve to do, along with the neckband and seams.

I've made some modifications to the raglan shaping, since I didn't like how the decreases were spaced in the pattern ie. decreasing every 2 rows x times, then every 4 rows y times. This gives a strange shape to the pieces. I recalculated the shaping to give a smooth slope to the raglans which I prefer. If the sleeve looks a bit skinny, it's because it is knitted in mistake rib which contracts when left alone. It has lots of stretch and goes round my arm fine.

I took the scissors to my piece of green stripey wool fabric having sewn a zigzag either side of the cutting lines. This turned out to not be necessary as the fulling was enough to hold it together. I made a long bag with pockets on the outside for the shuttles. Inside is plenty of room for the heddles, warp rods and pickup stick. I had trouble getting a picture of the whole thing, but here are the pockets.

My sewing machine grumbled a bit about the multiple thicknesses, but we made it. I took the lengths of tapestry wool left over from the warp (the ends of skeins which weren't long enough for a warp length) and plaited them into a thick drawstring for the top.

Since then I've woven a scarf using patterned all wool sock yarn which I overdyed first, because it was too bright. I warped in stripes with the colour repeat staggered. I'm puzzled about something though, why did this scarf increase in width when washed? The weft was slightly finer than the warp. I've never heard of this happening. I tried hemstitching for the first time and find it much easier to do than tying matching knots.

I've also been playing with a narrow band, the sort of thing you make on an inkle loom, this was fun. I used DMC Petra pearl cotton size 5 for this.

Last but not least, experiments using two heddles: first was a fine 2 ply wool. It was difficult to keep the edges even on this, and the finished fabric has a strange texture all over. I assume that I was getting the wrong length of weft. I think I was trying to avoid extreme draw in by using plenty of weft and got it wrong. Still, it's consistent and feels nice.

After that was a sample piece using crochet cottons. I found this from the Schacht website, and I just had to try the patterns.

This is half of it. I was trying different thicknesses of cotton for weft. Towards the end I was trying 1/3 twill and even had a go at 2/2 twill (last pale blue bit on the right), using a pickup stick and string heddles and a dowel rod to make the 4th shaft. Verdict: fiddly, but possible.

Currently, I'm pushing the possibilities with 1/2 and 2/1 twill, but that will be for next time.

Ripping and weaving

2009-01-19T16:52:00.012Z

It's been a while again, but I've been busy. This loom has taken over my crafting time big time. I'm still knitting in the evenings, but Ribena is no more. Having done the front and back and more than half of both sleeves, I felt disappointed with the look of it. My knitting was not very even in places, and the leftmost stitch in the 2x2 ribs was a lot bigger than the righthand stitch. I know this is common, but it didn't look nice. There is a fix involving wrapping the yarn the other way round the needle when purling the first stitch after the knit stitch, and then knitting into the back of that stitch on the return row. I've used it successfully when cabling, but not on a ribbed section. The major revelation is that the yarn, once skeined and washed, is much softer and knits up really nicely. I'm now knitting Kearsarge from the book A Fine Fleece by Lisa Lloyd, which is a basketweave pattern for the front and back, and mistake rib for the sleeves. So far, I'm about a third of the way up the back and one sleeve.

This is the result of the first warp, it's a sampler of various things. I've tried stripes, leno and Brooks bouquet which are both lacy effects, also weft floats and warp floats. I used it as a practice piece, using oddments of 4 ply yarn hence the eclectic colours.

This is the next step. I bought the book by Betty Linn Davenport 'Hands on Rigid Heddle Weaving', and couldn't resist trying the colour and weave sampler in it. I used some Forsell Shamal 4 ply (80% acrylic, 20% wool) from the machine knitting stash and the result is lovely fabric with great drape. The patterning which is possible from different arrangements of two colours is astonishing, and even plain weave can look really complex.

I bought an extra set of heddle blocks and more heddles, along with some shorter shuttles. A 32" shuttle is a formidable thing to be waving around, and for narrower warps is over the top. Anyway, I decided I need a way to store them safely together, so I thought I'd weave some yardage to sew a bag. From my needlepoint stash, I have a lot of tapestry wools, and since I don't do needlepoint any more I figured that I could use some of it as warp, so that is what I did.
I used two threads of tapestry wool and then one of a double knit green wool repeated across the warp. The weft is all the same dk green wool. This time I used the Ashford 7.5 dpi heddle, which fits the Kromski Harp fine.

Warped and ready to go...

Off the loom with ends knotted.

Washed, lightly fulled and steamed, ready for the scissors. I'm trying to summon the courage for that.

Next up is trying to weave with two heddles, the warp is ready to go on the loom - maybe tomorrow.

Something new

2008-12-30T22:53:00.005Z

I'm excited because I had a Kromski Harp folding rigid heddle loom for Christmas. I've been wanting to try weaving for a while so I'm delighted. I put a warp on it of 4 ply oddments and I've been practising over the last few days. Since I took this photo, I've tried patterns with the pick up stick, which gives some interesting effects. I think I'm getting the hang of it now.

As the weather has gotten colder recently and getting into bed is like getting into the fridge, I bought a hot water bottle and of course I had to make a cover for it. This is crocheted from Jaeger Matchmaker DK and it feels nice. I made the pattern up as I went along. Crochet is great for that, it's much easier to design on the fly than knitting, for me anyway.

The Ribena sleeves are growing steadily but there is still about 3 inches to go before the armhole shaping.

Wherever does time go?

2008-12-22T22:43:00.009Z

I'm astounded that it's been over five weeks since I posted. Still, there has been a lot of sampling, and progress has been slow. Knitting is going on, I started Ribena from Knitty, only I'm going to make long sleeves. I wanted something fairly simple and this fits the bill nicely. So far, I've finished the back and front and am making both sleeves together. The yarn is Patons Diploma Gold DK and I'm using 4mm needles for the stocking stitch sections, 3.75mm for the ribs.

It took a long time, but I finally spun up the merino silk blend. I made a 2 ply and it is 469m weighing 100g. I think I've found a pattern for it, but I won't be starting yet.

After a lengthy drilling session, my oak peg loom was completed. The first project on it was a small rug, which I wove with english wool tops which I divided lengthwise into eighths, and then spun lightly.

Mollie, one of our two cats, is very attracted to this rug, and sabotaged it a couple of times during weaving. As a result, I decided to felt it, or it would have a very short life. My attempts in the bathtub were ineffective, so into the washing machine it went. Now it is smaller, still damp and much denser, but crucially, it's cat proof.

Spinning fine

2008-11-16T22:36:00.006Z

First of all, here is the progress on the first sock knitted with the kettle dyed yarn from my last post. There is diagonal patterning, and if I'd used different size needles or more or fewer stitches, it would be different. I'm using a 2.5mm needle and 72sts. It's growing on me.

I've been swatching and ripping a lot lately, indecision rules, it seems. Why do I have so much trouble finding a sweater pattern to knit? I'm not short of choices, but nothing is calling out to me. I suspect I'm going to be designing my own.

As a bit of a change, I dyed some merino/silk blend tops which I treated myself to a while ago.

I've made a start with the spinning, and it seems to want to be spun fine, so that's what I'm doing. I'm aiming for a 2 ply maybe for a lace scarf. This fibre is very soft with a lovely sheen from the silk and I managed not to felt it when I dyed it.

This wasn't the case for this red wool. I had to work quite hard to predraft this because it had become a bit matted, even though I had been quite careful not to agitate it or thermally shock it. Still, I ended up with almost 300m weighing 160g of 2 ply subtly shaded red yarn. Now to decide what to do with it.

Put the kettle on

2008-11-02T11:44:00.007Z

I've been wanting to try kettle dyeing for a while, and I'm nearly ready to start some more socks, so I had a go at kettle dyeing an undyed skein of sock yarn. It was fun but unpredictable. The first thing was to soak the yarn in a weak washing up liquid solution, while mixing up the dyes. I used five different shades of acid dyes in the red, pink and yellow part of the spectrum. Having given the yarn a rinse I squeezed out most of the water and put it in the pot with some hot water, (just enough to cover it) I added some vinegar at this point, to help the dye to stay where it was put. Then it's a case of adding one colour at a time, waiting until it's been soaked up before adding the next.

Afterwards it's a case of applying heat, in this case I brought it up to nearly boiling point for about 15 minutes. The results are a bit more pink than I wanted, but I like the randomness of it.

I'm just wondering if I should overdye the pinkest bits, because I don't know if I'm brave enough (I've never been someone who wears very bright colours) to wear socks made from this. But then you can't even see the socks when they're worn because they're covered by shoes and trouser legs. Oh well, if I don't like them, I can always dye the finished socks something darker. I'm really looking forward to finding out what they'll be like.

Decision making

2008-10-24T12:24:00.006+01:00

For the last few days, the only thing I've knitted has been a sock. This is 72 sts on a 2.5mm Addi lace needle in a 4+2 garter rib pattern, using the hand dyed sock yarn left over from my Mystic Meadows shawl.

I've been trying to find the perfect sweater project since I finished two sweaters nearly at the same time recently. I've been looking through books and magazines and Ravelry, and I think I've narrowed it down to two. This could change at any time though. The next thing is to swatch and see if I like the fabric in the yarns I'm thinking of using, one is handspun alpaca and the other is a wool rich DK.

Other than that, I've been playing with a peg loom I made. This is just the trial version of it, I've got a lovely piece of oak for the real thing, but I wanted to try out the spacing of the pegs first.

I started out with strips of the carded fibre that has a lot of noils and neps which makes a lovely squishy fabric, and then I lightly spun some of the same and tried that. I think I might try felting the result. It could be a good way to use up some of the not so good fibre I have. I fancy trying to make a rug at some point.

I managed to get a mirror shot of the Cabled Spiral sweater, the colour is a little yellowed, but it shows the fit pretty well. This is a very cosy garment, the Sirdar Salsa (merino and acrylic) is very soft and not at all itchy.

I'm still here

2008-10-15T11:08:00.006+01:00

It's been a while I know, but progress has been made. My Rosemary sweater is finished, and so is the Cabled Spiral sweater. I'm happy with them both. I added some rows of single crochet rib to the neckline of the Rosemary sweater and overlapped them in the middle in an effort to stop the gaping. This worked well and it sits nicely. The colour is more accurate in the first picture, a dark olive green.

This picture is of the almost complete Cabled Spiral. Now it has a slightly longer neckband and is ready for blocking. The pattern is written for a polo neck, but I always find them too warm, so I've shortened it, hopefully without spoiling the finished look. Modifications I made: added more garter ridges on the hem to counteract the tendency to roll. Also, I did just a little waist shaping, just visible in the picture.

This is a blocking picture of the yoke, the colour is more accurate in the whole sweater picture.

Now I have to decide what to make next. I only have one sock going at the moment and I just discovered an error in it which I'm hoping I can fix without ripping out more than 2". It is knitted with the green hand dyed sock yarn left over from Mystic Meadows, and I'm using a garter rib pattern.

Spinning without a plan

2008-09-22T19:44:00.005+01:00

It would help if I could decide what I wanted to use the resultant yarn for when I set out to do some spinning. Sometimes, though it is better to see how the fibre behaves spun thick or thin and take it from there. It's no fun battling with it, much better to go along with it. These English wool tops fall into this category being better suited to a fairly thick single.

This is 225m of 3 ply weighing 158g. There is also a small amount of 2 ply in the same colours and 135m of 2 ply in the heather colourway weighing 80g.

I still have the same amount to do again from the last dyeing session, the red and green. I'm not getting a very even result with this yarn, but hopefully it will look okay knitted up.

The cabled spiral sweater is progressing, I'm up to the yoke now - picture next time when there will be cables.

Morning Surf finished

2008-09-09T22:39:00.008+01:00

It's done and blocked, measuring 55" x 7". I didn't stretch it very much, so it could have been bigger, but I'm pleased with it. It didn't even take me very long to knit, it's nice to have something finished quickly for a change.

The photo is of just one sleeve, but as of this evening, there is another one as well. Next I'll cast on for the body of the Cabled Spiral sweater by Norah Gaughan. I ripped the yarn (Sirdar Salsa) from the Weekend Sweater which had been hibernating for some time, and which I eventually realized was a bit small and I didn't really want a tight fitting sweater. The Cabled Spiral is mainly stocking stitch until the yoke when it gets interesting.

This is the current state of the crocheted Rosemary sweater, the longer sleeve needs a few more rounds, and then I need to make the other one match. I need to work out a way to make the neck opening less revealing because I don't want to have to wear a camisole underneath necessarily. I had made the opening higher than the pattern stated, but it wasn't quite enough even then.

I had a little dyeing session at the weekend, this is about 500g of english wool tops which I dyed in four different semi solid shades. So far, I've spun up about 2oz of the brown. At the moment , the plan is to make a 3 ply with it, maybe for a hat. Other ideas include spinning a thick singles yarn for a change.

The brown was dyed using leftover unexhausted dyes from previous sessions, after all, brown is usually the result of mixing all sorts of colours isn't it? There was separation of some of the constituent shades, giving this mixture shown clearly in the predrafted tops.

This is fun

2008-08-31T22:35:00.006+01:00

I'm having fun with this scarf, it's the Morning Surf scarf modified a bit. I cast on 36 sts on to a 4.5mm needle and instead of 2,3,4,3,2 YOs, I'm doing 1,2,3,2,1. I don't normally get on too well knitting scarves, I get fed up before half way usually, but I'm past that point already and still going strong. Knitting with my own handspun is more special somehow and the colours are so vivid with a bit of candy striping shading one to the next.

This is more restful on the eyes, two skeins of two ply totalling 542m from the pastel batts along with a smaller skein of three ply. It isn't too bad considering the aggravation it gave me during the spinning of it. I have no idea what to use this for yet, hopefully something will occur to me soon. It would be good to use my handspun before it gets too old in the stash.

It's a bit bright

2008-08-23T13:51:00.005+01:00

The BFL I dyed a couple of weeks ago has been transformed into this.

It's 219m of 2 ply weighing approx 100g, thicker than I anticipated so I don't think it will become socks, maybe a scarf. It's very soft, so well suited to that use. I did have to cheat a bit when plying because there were differences in thickness and therefore length between the two bobbins, so I removed and added lengths of colour from one single or the other in order to align the colour changes a bit better. Next time, I think I'll try to spin thin and navajo ply.
So far, my favourite dyeing and spinning experiment was the one where I dyed two different, but harmonising colourways, spun each into a single and then plied them. This gave rise to my Swallowtail shawl and it's still my favourite FO from recent times.

This curiosity is half a slice of cheese on toast. Originally, it was leaning in an A shape with another piece, and remained standing when the other piece was removed.

Noils and Neps

2008-08-13T18:04:00.007+01:00

It's been quite a trying time lately. The pastel dyed batts I've been spinning are rather full of those little tangled lumps which I think are called neps, and assorted short fibres or noils. Both make it difficult to spin an even yarn. I removed a large percentage while pre-drafting, and more while spinning, but some got through anyway. The picture above shows one such piece of pre-drafted fibre along with the crud that came out of it. I've managed to fill two bobbins with singles and am currently plying them. I'm thinking that I may try felting the remaining fibre rather than spinning it. I nearly ran out of patience with this stuff.

To take my mind off this fibre, I finally got to dye some of the superwash BFL that I have had for a while. I didn't have a clear plan for this and ended up with a rainbow of colours.

Once it was cooked and dried, it looked a bit different.

This might be socks eventually, I'm going to attempt a 2 ply and maintain the colour sequence by dividing the roving lengthways into an even number of sections and hopefully spinning two matching singles. Watch this space!

With a few UFOs hiding around the place, I promoted one of them to a WIP - my Rosemary crocheted sweater which has grown quite nicely over the last couple of weeks. It still looks like a green blob, but I'll try for a picture soon. I also finished my pair of plain Online socks, ready for the cooler weather.

A spinning time

2008-07-31T15:51:00.005+01:00

With the exception of one knitting project, my crafting time has been spent spinning lately. I seem to have accumulated yet more fluffy stuff, and the best way to make it more compact is to spin it. This is Cheviot cross Border Leicester carded fleece dyed in pastel shades.

So far, it looks like this - I'm just tearing strips off the batt and letting the colours do what they like. It'll probably end up a 2 ply with assorted combinations of colours. It isn't next to the skin soft so I'm trying to think what to make with it.

The laceweight I mentioned last time made from my BFL fleece is not very good. Actually, that's an understatement, it's the worst yarn I've spun on this wheel. It's very wrinkly and even though I ran it through the wheel again to put a bit more plying twist in, it still isn't right. So for now I'm going to try spinning that fibre a bit thicker, maybe spinning laceweight isn't for me with this particular fleece.

This is my Mystic Meadows finished, it's been a push for the finish for the last couple of weeks. I blocked it yesterday, and it looks pretty good. This is the first half, the picture of the other half was blurry, so I'll try again later. It took just a few yards under the 2 skeins of yarn, so I'll definitely be knitting some matching socks with the third skein, although I don't think I'll be wearing them at the same time! The pattern is by Anna Dalvi and I used a 4mm needle. It blocked to 21" x 67", but relaxed somewhat when I unpinned it, especially in the cabled sections.

Cleaning fleece

2008-07-20T13:57:00.005+01:00

Since I last posted, I succumbed to the lure of the raw fleece, and bought a BFL fleece. I figure that every spinner should try the experience at least once. With it being shearing season there are quite a few on offer, so I thought why not? Well, I can think of a few reasons now which didn't occur to me at first. I didn't expect it to be so much work to get it clean, endless rinses, and the potential felting risk. Yes, I did matt a bit of it, but it will tease apart. Then there is the sheepy smell, which lingers even after washing. But the main thing is the time it's going to take to prepare it for spinning. I don't have a drum carder yet, (I'm working on it), and the fibres are too long for hand carding, so I'm having to tease out the locks with a small carder and spin from the lock.

Some of the fleece having a soak

A couple of teased out locks

So far, I've spun a miniscule amount of very fine singles just to try to see if I can produce laceweight. When I've got the same amount on another bobbin, I'll see what the 2 ply looks like.

No, this isn't it, this is the white alpaca I was spinning before. Sadly, it's a little bit too thin to go with the other colours I already spun, although I might get away with it. I'll have to swatch.

I have done a bit of knitting, mainly on Mystic Meadows which is now 3/4 done, and the Goddess Knits mystery is about 2/3 though the third clue. There are still only 288 stitches for a while yet, but I can tell that after the next increase round it's going to grow very slowly.

Just in time for the cool spell

2008-07-09T09:53:00.005+01:00

My Sweet Tea top is done in time for the summery weather to take a break. Outside is grey and cool, and inside I can't get the camera to capture the green of this yarn. It persists in showing it as grey. Imagine it as a pale spring green (see here) scroll down a bit, shade 13. The top is a snug fit, but I like it. To recap, it is Debbie Bliss Cathay, a cotton, viscose microfibre and silk blend DK yarn worked with a 5mm hook and I used nearly all of 6 balls.

Jewel is done

2008-06-29T16:58:00.008+01:00

Well, the crochet mojo is back I think. I actually finished Jewel and started another top from the same book, (Everyday Crochet by Doris Chan). I've wavered between knitting and crochet for a lot of years, one or other taking precedence for a while. Crochet wins on speed since the fabric grows so fast, ideal for jumpers that you want quickly. This is really comfortable to wear and I'm glad I persisted with it. Getting the right gauge with this stretchy stitch pattern is a challenge, so trial and error seems to be the way to go. I've had a similar experience with Sweet Tea, the next crochet project, but I think I've cracked it now.

The yarn is Debbie Bliss Cathay, a DK cotton, microfibre and viscose mix. I tried knitting with it, but it is very inelastic, and I wasn't enjoying the experience, so tried crochet which is much better. I still have to do the shoulder straps and then I'll just keep going on the body until I run out of yarn.

Spinning has been happening too. I now have a 100g skein of the dark brown alpaca to add to the other two colours. The white fibre I bought is spinning up even better and I've got 50g of singles already. Once this is done, I really must dye some wool so that I can spin something colourful!

I haven't forgotten knitting either. Mystic Meadows is growing, onto clue 3 now. And gasp, shock horror I cast on another lace project. This one is the Goddess Knits Mystery shawl, a circular pi shawl KAL. I've never done a round one before, so this is going to be interesting. The picture is of the first clue with 4 rounds done of the second. I think this will take a good blocking to look it's best. So far each clue has four pattern options, so everyone has to choose which to use. I went with D for clue 1 and B for clue 2.

Plodding on

2008-06-17T22:41:00.006+01:00

I'm still here, just not getting many knitting opportunities lately. I do have some progress to show though. Mystic Meadows has grown to row 180. When I pinned it out to measure I decided that I do need to extend it somewhat, so I shall use some of the lengthening options available. The pattern is lovely and I'm still enjoying it. I was hoping to have enough yarn left from the third skein to knit some socks, but this might not happen now. We'll see.

A plain vanilla sock is the only FO I've had in a while. This is Online Supersocke City Color shade 917. I'm using a 2.75mm circular and 64sts. At least I started the second one.

It's very frustrating when you want to knit, but other things take precedence. The brown alpaca I was spinning hasn't been touched in over a month, I'm hoping I can get back to it soon.

The grass is growing

2008-06-07T14:41:00.004+01:00

Well, actually it's Mystic Meadows which is growing. It's going pretty well and I'm really enjoying the knitting so far. The only other knitting I've been doing this week is a plain stocking stitch sock, I needed a 'no concentration needed' project as well.

More alpaca to spin

2008-06-02T23:23:00.009+01:00

Why do I do it? Not content with having nearly enough mid brown alpaca spun up to knit a sweater or jacket, I've gone and bought 500g each of two other colours of alpaca fibre to contrast with it. So now I have some dark brown and some white as well. I've made a start on the dark brown, the picture is 50g of singles. In addition I spun some more of the dark chestnut fleece I bought last year.

This is over 120g and 222m of roughly aran weight. Once I get the other two colours done, I'll have to get designing. I'm going to have to find some willpower from somewhere, because I also want to dye and spin some BFL for socks.

The Charade variation socks are finished. They fit fine and I'm happy with them. I'm still not too fond of short row heels, but at least I know I can do them if I want. These were knitted on a 2.5mm circular needle with 72 stitches.

Lace knitting has had a little break since I finished Secret of the stole ii about a week ago. It isn't blocked yet, so no picture. The weather is so damp and dull, it would take forever to dry. Still, the chart for Mystic Meadows was released today, and I cast on. It looks promising so far, but there isn't much to see yet.

Having dithered about Jewel, I finally opted to rip back far enough to change it to a smaller size. It seems that a couple of inches of positive ease was too much, so now I'm aiming for no ease at all. This seems to actually fit quite nicely and with just a few more rounds on the body to do, I'll soon be on the sleeves.

The colour of meadows

2008-05-22T14:32:00.009+01:00

As part of the preparations for taking part in the Mystic Meadows KAL, I've been preparing some yarn. I wanted to use a non-solid colour of fingering yarn and decided that I would try to dye my own. Three skeins needed to be dyed at the same time, so first I had to get a suitable dyeing vessel. Previously, I've only dyed 100g at a time in the microwave, but this needed to be a bigger dyelot. Luckily, M&S are currently offering 7 litre stock pots at a good price, (stainless steel with a glass lid) which proved to be ideal. The idea was to create a range of greens to reflect my idea of meadowland, but the first attempt was a bit off colourwise. Very yellow-green. I had prepared three different greens, then dipped opposite ends of the skeins in each of the first two, followed by total immersion in the third. Something wasn't quite right obviously.

Realizing that this wasn't quite what I wanted, I overdyed the whole lot with blue, and finished up with multishaded greens, maybe a bit darker than I had planned, but still pleasing.

The swatch for the KAL was released today, so I'm all ready now.

The Tidal Wave socks are finished, I really enjoyed working with this yarn (merino/tencel) and the socks feel so soft on my feet. It's almost a shame it's nearly sandal weather.

Sometimes, life gets in the way of knitting

2008-05-11T14:23:00.004+01:00

Having realised that I haven't written anything here for over a week and a half, I thought I'd better try. Blogging about not very much seems a bit pointless really, but this is supposed to be my fibre related journal, so I'm going to do it. It's hard to isolate the reason, but there are no FOs, nothing started, and only a bit of progress on Secret of the Stole ii. I'm halfway through the penultimate clue, and I'm finding it hard to keep enthusiastic about it. I'm past the heel turn and gusset decreases on the second Tidal Wave sock and on to the plain stockinette of the foot.

I've spun up a little of my mid brown alpaca, and spent some time this morning carding some more.

We're having a warm spell of weather at the moment, and I think Mollie has the right idea.

Done and blocked

2008-04-30T19:26:00.010+01:00

Mystic Light is done. It's been a really nice knitalong, and the design is lovely. It used a bit less than 200g of yarn, and it stretched out to about 34" deep and 68" across. I'm glad I learned to cable without a cable needle which is easier than I thought it would be.

Progress on anything else has been slow, but I have made a start on the second Tidal Wave sock. I couldn't resist reversing the pattern to make a mirror image of the first one. This merino/tencel yarn is so soft, it's very nice to knit.

A lesson learned (again)

2008-04-24T19:12:00.007+01:00

You would think that a fundamental like swatching using the exact same needles or hook that you intend to use for the item itself would be obvious. I know this, so why I didn't do it I don't know.

I bought this book by Doris Chan having seen rave reviews on a couple of blogs. The garments are worked top down with raglan shaping which is nice for trying on as you go. Anyhow, the swatch you can see was worked with my grotty old plastic 6mm hook and I got exact gauge for Jewel. Jubilant, I started out using my 6mm Clover soft touch hook which I really like. The rest is predictable really. Of course my gauge was off with this hook, instead of 3" for 2 pattern repeats, I was getting 2.75". No problem, I'd just do extra rows and increases. I finished the yoke and laid it flat to measure, when I noticed that the raglan increases weren't laying flat, there was a bulge in the same place on each one. I'd followed the pattern for my size, but it seemed as if there was one increase round too many early in the yoke.

So, I ripped nearly all of it out and continued with the old plastic hook. I omitted the offending row, and currently I'm nearly to the armpit on this version with the raglans laying flat so far. This picture shows progress before this evenings crochet frenzy.

My Mystic Light shawl is approaching completion, almost half way through the final clue. I'm going to be sad when this one is done, I've really enjoyed knitting it. Looking on the bright side though, I'll be able to wear it.

Lots of Alpaca

2008-04-17T13:54:00.006+01:00

I thought I'd never see the day, but this batch of Alpaca is spun, plied and washed. There is 910m weighing 492g. Not quite enough for a sweater, so I will have to spin up some of the darker brown to get the yardage. Then I'll have to get ingenious with designing something which works with the yarn I have.

I started a sock using 64sts on a 2.75mm needle with the merino/tencel yarn, colourway Devilishly Red which came from this seller on eBay. It feels so soft, and I'm really enjoying working with it. The pattern is Tidal Wave socks which is a simple pattern with a lot of effect for a little work. I'm just past the heel turn at the moment. It'll be interesting to see what happens to the patterning at the instep, but I like it so far.

It's been a whole year...

2008-04-13T17:09:00.009+01:00

....since I had my carpal tunnel release surgery. It was Friday the 13th April 2007. DH wasn't very happy with that date but superstition didn't get in the way of a successful surgery. I'm so glad I had it done. I was able to start knitting again within a week, which was marvellous.

I haven't really stopped since and for once I'm up to date with a KAL: Mystic Light is done up to the end of clue 3. I couldn't stretch it out very far for it's photo since it's getting a bit too big for the needle. I've just started the second balls of yarn which should mean it's half way done. Luckily I do have more of this yarn if it goes over estimate.

I had a little splurge last week on eBay. I bought this merino and tencel sock yarn and some undyed BFL laceweight. The sock yarn is in the colourway Devilishly red. There is 330m and I'm looking for a suitable pattern for it. It is very soft and has quite a lustre.

There is 1200m of laceweight here. I don't have anything in mind for this at the moment, but I plan to dye it when I find a project for it.

What with pressing on with Mystic Light, the only other thing to report is the completion of the first Charade sock. I've cast on the second and I amazed myself by remembering how to do the old Norwegian cast on.

Will I never learn?

2008-04-06T17:22:00.005+01:00

Despite having enough projects on the needles, I cast on the Mystic Light shawl using some wool from stash. The picture shows it 6 rows into clue 2. The yarn is botany 2 ply in Old Gold used double. I figured that the source of all light is the sun, therefore my shawl is sun coloured. I'm using 4.5mm Knitpicks options needles which are pointy enough for lace. The largest Addi lace needle I have is 4mm. I did hear a rumour that they are going to make some larger sizes, I'll have to investigate.

Secret of the stole ii or Savannah to give it it's proper name is just past half way done now. It's still an easy knit, but the element of surprise is lost now, so it's growing more slowly. The second half is just the first half reversed. I still like it and I'll keep doing a few rows here and there so it should be finished eventually. Being behind on a knitalong means that all the errors and problems have been ironed out for you, but you lose the surprise element.

Third time lucky

2008-04-02T22:34:00.007+01:00

It's been a bit quiet on the knitting front this week. Since I finished the Swallowtail shawl none of my other projects have seemed so appealing. I think the lovely softness of the BFL yarn is hard to compete with. Anyhow, I did persist with the short row heel on the first Charade sock. I had to rip it twice, but managed it on the third attempt. Goodness knows how I messed it up, I mean, hundreds, thousands or maybe even millions of people can manage a short row heel okay. I can do a heel flap type heel without referring to any instructions, so maybe if I keep trying I will manage a short row heel that way too eventually.

This is where that shawl lives now - on the back of my computer chair when it isn't round my shoulders. What can I say, I'm really chuffed with it.
I started the back of the Weekend pullover having got the first sleeve up to the sleeve cap shaping. I intend to knit the second sleeve to the same point, then knit them both at the same time for the cap shaping, that way they stand a chance of being a matching pair.

This shot of the back was taken a couple of days ago, and it's nearly twice as tall now. The size seems good, and the yarn seems to be lasting well, it looks like the back will take less than 3 balls, and each sleeve about 1.5. So, the 10 I have will be plenty. Phew!

The Mystic Light knitalong has started. I signed up for it a while ago, and eventually cast on with some shaded blue 4 ply wool intended for socks. I'm not very happy with how it looks, so I think it'll be ripped. The cables are fine, but the lace pattern just doesn't show up. It's given me some practice in cabling without a cable needle though. I'll have to look in the stash for something in a solid colour I think.

Happy day

2008-03-24T13:53:00.007Z

I've been concentrating on getting the Swallowtail shawl finished and I succeeded on Friday, but it has taken until today to get it blocked. I had about 3g of yarn left over, which was a relief considering that I did more repeats of the main pattern (19 instead of 14) than written. I also put beads on more rows than I first planned to. It measures about 54" across and about 27" deep, which is much bigger than I thought it would end up. The before and after blocking pictures could be of a totally different piece of knitting.

The sun came out in between the snow showers while I was taking pics, the pale stripe on the right isn't really there.

A look at the edge, click the pictures for the bigger version. It's still damp, and the colours will brighten up a bit when it's dry I think.

Beading time

2008-03-18T15:10:00.007Z

I can't believe it's a week since I last posted, the time has really flown by. I think the most interesting thing to have happened (no, I don't lead a very exciting life) was the shopping expedition when I took the Swallowtail shawl to find beads. I came across some Jaeger beads designed for knit use which have purple, blue and red colouring. They were the best match I could find and I've finally got the technique for getting them onto the stitches refined. I had been tempted to try the nupps, but having calculated my yarn usage and finding that I should have ~5g left without them and ~1g left with them, it wasn't worth the anxiety. At this point I have four of the ten beaded rows done and it's going well.

This alpaca is turning into a marathon project. Having filled two bobbins with singles, I managed to get them plied yesterday. This is the first skein with the second half on the bobbin waiting for it's turn on the niddy noddy. It's a bit rustic, a bit uneven and a light aran weight, I'm guessing 4.5mm needles. There is nearly as much again to do but I don't think there'll be quite enough for a sweater, so I might blend some of this fibre with some of the brown alpaca I still have waiting from last year to make a contrast colour. Better yet I could spin some of the brown to the same thickness as well and have two contrasts. I may do stripes or colourwork, who knows. I'm determined to make a sweater or jacket from handspun sooner or later, and this might be it.

The crocheted circular ripple has grown a bit, but each round seems neverending. This may well end up a bit smaller than I first thought.

Progress pics

2008-03-11T18:12:00.005Z

I thought I'd better post some photos. This is the Swallowtail shawl as of today. The BFL handspun is lovely and soft and I'm really enjoying knitting with it. The lace pattern isn't disappearing too badly among the colour changes. This section of the pattern is easily memorised, so it goes quite quickly even though the rows are quickly getting longer.

The sock has enough done to warrant a photo now. It's my variation of the Charade sock. The original uses a 2 by 2 rib as the basis, I've used a 4 by 2 rib so that the herringbone pattern is more spaced out. I'm toying with the idea of doing a short row heel for a change, no decision needed yet though. The yarn is Swiss, I'll post the details when I find the label. I'm using my 2.5mm Addi lace needle, magic loop with 72sts cast on. In my efforts to expand my skills, I tried the Old Norwegian cast on using a 3.25mm dpn for this sock, transferring the stitches to the circular before knitting the first round.

On a totally unrelated note, one of my other non yarn hobbies is doing jigsaws and today I finished a 1500 piece puzzle. I had bought it about a year ago from eBay and was most disappointed to discover it had missing pieces. I accept this as a hazard of buying used puzzles, but the number of missing pieces took my breath away when I counted up the empty spaces.

~Would you believe 18?

A little bit of knitting

2008-03-09T22:27:00.005Z

It's been a bit quiet on the crafting front lately. Recently on the needles is the swatch, oops, the sleeve of the Weekend pullover by Veronik Avery from Interweave Knits Fall '06. I'm getting gauge, so my guess about which size to cast on was correct for a change. I had to hunt in the stash to find something the right weight that also had the yardage, and I found some Sirdar Salsa in Cappuchino. It's half merino and half acrylic DK, and is very soft, slightly brushed, but it still shows up the patterns nicely. I've also cast on for a sock, but there isn't much to see yet.

On the wheel is some light brown alpaca which I got off eBay which is proving a challenge to spin. The staple is quite short and the rovings have a fair bit of VM. I am having to spin it a bit thicker than I really wanted to, because it kept breaking even with a lot of twist. Strangely, it seems to be greasy which I thought alpaca wasn't. I have one bobbin full and have started the second. I'm just going to have to dye some more of the BFL soon, I enjoy spinning colourful fibre.

Secret of the stole ii is going slowly, near to the end of clue 4 and it's still an easy knit. The Swallowtail shawl is also growing with 7 of the 14 pattern repeats done, before the border pattern begins. The border incorporates nupps ( increase to make 5 sts from one, and then purl them together in the following row) in the pattern which look pretty tricky, so I'm wondering whether adding beads might be a better option. Maybe I'll take it shopping and see if I can find some beads which go with the colours.

The FOs are coming thick and fast

2008-02-28T13:54:00.007Z

The Waving Lace socks are done now. I made a few slight modifications to suit my foot shape. Apart from the extra couple of rows in the cuff, I did fewer heelflap rows and only decreased the toe stitches down to 23 instead of 12. I don't think very pointy toes fit me very well.

I've been tempted to do some more dyeing of the superwash BFL fibre I have in the stash, and before I do, I thought it would be a good idea to try knitting up some of the yarn I had already spun and have also been thinking about what to make with the purpley hand spun BFL I finished a while back. There is 450m and ever since I saw the Swallowtail shawl, I've been wanting to knit it. I finally got hold of the relevant issue of Interweave Knits (Fall '06) so I've cast on. I know that variegated yarns and lace don't always mix, but I'm hoping this will work out. Any stripes will be thinner as the rows get longer, but then I spun this yarn totally randomly, so it's not terribly predictable. Here's hoping...

Finally done

2008-02-27T22:09:00.004Z

Mystic Waters is blocked and still a bit damp. It measures 1.8m x 1.0m (roughly 71"x39") which is as big as I had room to get it. It would have stretched a bit more, but this is big enough. I'm very pleased with it.

Just need to get some buttons

2008-02-25T19:16:00.006Z

Well, Oblique is finished and it fits me okay. I'll have to try and get a modelled shot once I get some buttons. The sleeve length is fine thank goodness and I even had yarn left over from the 13 balls I started with. I'm thinking there might be enough for a pair of fingerless gloves. I enjoyed knitting this although I would consider knitting it in one piece if I was going to do it again. Seaming the moss stitch was quite tricky and I don't know why, I've sewn an awful lot of mattress stitch seams over the years, but this had me struggling.

Mystic Waters is also finished and waiting for blocking. I need to find time for that soon. The edging took ages and I put my first lifeline of the project through the final row before the edging. It would have been so easy to have the stitches fall off the needle while turning for each small row of edging. That possibility didn't bear thinking about.
I weighed it out of curiosity and it weighs 99.9g, so I used 903m. The 2 ply Forsell wool is 2258m per 250g cone. I used a 3.25mm Addi lace needle.

WIPs everywhere

2008-02-15T19:00:00.003Z

This last week has seen steady progress on several projects, but nothing started or finished.
All the main pieces of Oblique are done, and the button band is in progress. I had blocked the fronts as a guide to the sleeve length. Hopefully it worked and the sleeves will be okay for length. I'll try it on once the sleeve seams are started, just to make sure.

I'm past the heel on the second Waving Lace sock, time to start thinking about the next pair I think. Mystic Waters is finally on the final clue. I was starting to get excited about finishing soon, until I realised that the edging along the long edge was equivalent to another 10 rows.
Secret of the Stole ii is ready to start the third clue and looking good.
My crocheted projects (the Rosemary sweater and the circular ripple afghan) have also grown a bit. I know that if I could stick with one project at a time, I might finish things more regularly instead of having lots of WIPs and then lots of FOs. Still, variety is the spice of life so they say.

Plodding along

2008-02-07T15:30:00.000Z

This last week, I only started one project, a CAL circular ripple afghan. This grows quite quickly when I actually work on it. It's further along than the picture now and it lies flat which is good.
All my other projects are in the plodding along phase, where nothing very exciting happens, except for the excitement of going from one clue to the next in the case of the KALs. I'm nearly to the raglan shaping on the Oblique sleeves, but I'm not sure just how much lengthwise stretch I'll get in wear which influences when I start the shaping. This alpaca and silk yarn is quite floppy, it drapes well, but I think it could sag. I suspect I'd better block the finished pieces and hang them up and see what happens. I'd rather get the sleeve length right.

Mystic Waters is at the end of clue 6. Some of the heavily patterned rows are taking nearly 20 minutes to do. This fine yarn needs so much care and it splits a bit too easily for my liking. Still, I've started this thing and I'm determined to finish it.

This picture is just of the middle section, it's too bunched up on the needle to show it any better. Note to self, I need a better background for pictures of this. It will probably show up better when its blocked, and the holes are bigger.

Secret of the Stole ii. I'm really liking this stole so far. The pattern isn't difficult and the thicker yarn is much easier to work with. It's 3 ply on a 3.75mm needle and it's going to be quite wide, it wouldn't have been difficult to have it falling off the ends of the 60cm (24") needle. I may have yardage issues with this, so I might be incorporating some of the shortening options. I'll do some weighing of yarn and knitting at the end of clue 2. This picture was taken half way through clue 2.

Half a FO

2008-01-30T19:25:00.000Z

I just finished the first Waving Lace sock. It fits fine, so now I'd better cast on for the second one. This pattern gives a lot of visual interest for not much fancy stitchwork, it's amazing how much difference it makes having the yarn overs and decreases separated by a varying number of stitches. I followed the pattern exactly except for the top border where I did an extra couple of rows. I forgot to count rows and I think I prefer how it looks anyway.

I've been working hard on the Mysticwaters shawl, and I've just started clue 6. No picture because I put it back on a 60cm needle and it's all scrunched up.

Last weekend, I dyed some vintage 1oz skeins of grey 3 ply botany wool. From this,

to this.
The purple has come out somewhat shaded: believe it or not I was trying for a solid colour. Still, I'm not complaining. It looks great knitted up as the Secret of the Stole ii. I don't know when I think I'm going to get the time to work on it, but the temptation was too much. There are some lovely Knitalongs going on at the moment, but I'm trying not to start all of them, much as I'd like to.

In between all the frantic knitting I get to do laundry several times a week. I save up the machine washable wool items for a wool wash once there are enough of them to make it worthwhile. This basketful of socks and sweaters struck me as rather colourful, so here's a pic. These represent about of a third of all the handknit socks I've made over the last few years. It does seem from this that I mostly make brown or blue socks, but I do have some other colours too.

Half way

2008-01-24T19:15:00.000Z

I seem to have got a bit behind with my Mystic Water shawl. A lot of people have finished theirs, and some have even knit two of them. I just reached the point where I had to decide whether to make the smaller version, or the full size. When I pinned it out to measure it in order to predict the possible final sizes, it was about 26" to the point which would mean a finished size of either 30" or 37" approx. I decided to go with the larger size because I didn't want to omit the snowflake pattern which runs across the top edge of the shawl, and a 30" deep shawl isn't all that big. So I'm going to be plodding along for a while yet.

Oblique's sleeves are growing slowly. I'm doing them both at the same time, this way I won't have second sleeve syndrome and when they're done, it's just sewing up and the bands to do. With luck it'll be done in time for Spring.
My Waving Lace sock needs a few rounds frogging since I messed up the lace pattern after picking up the instep stitches. Silly me decided that I knew the pattern okay and that I didn't need to check the book. I should know better.

Plying takes longer than you think!

2008-01-18T14:37:00.000Z

Here we have it, 455m, 106g of 2 ply superwash BFL. This is the most length I've managed yet. Even with the new high speed bobbins, the plying took a lot longer than I expected, but it was well worth it I think. The colours are even better in real life, and the yarn is beautifully soft.

I started a sock from the Favorite Socks book. It's the one on the cover, the Waving Lace design by Evelyn Clark. I'm using John Lewis own brand 4 ply which is 75% wool, 25% polyamide, in pink, on my 2.75mm Knitpicks circular (magic loop). It's going well, albeit I did have to frog a bit when I skipped a plain round once.
The fronts of Oblique are done, so now it's time for the sleeves. As a lot of other people have done I'm omitting the turned back cuffs, so I'm going to do a conventional cuff and shorten the sleeves a bit. Sleeves that are loose on the wrist don't stay pushed up when needed, which can be a nuisance at times.
Mystic Waters is progressing slowly, a row here and there. I'm about half way through clue 4 now.

That's much better!

2008-01-09T18:18:00.000Z

I knew it had to be possible to get a better match than I had before. These are my standard top down heel flap socks using 2.75mm circs and 64sts. The yarn is Online City Colour, shade 922.

I've been dyeing today after I got my new dyes yesterday.This time I've got the primary colours plus black, which should mean I can mix just about anything. Before I was a bit limited by the colour selection I had. The top batch was immersed in a purple dyebath. I was expecting some shading, but this is much better! I'm sure I mixed the bath well, but it looks as if it wasn't very well mixed at all. The second lot was squeezed quite well, before laying it out on cling film and adding dye where I wanted it, before nuking it in the microwave. This is superwash BFL, 50g of each colourway. I plan to ply them together for socks.

I made a start on the purple one. I've ordered some more bobbins, the high speed ones that have the tiny whorl, which should mean a bit less treadling for the fine singles. They will also speed up plying. Rather than pay extra for the fatcore bobbins, I'm experimenting with using pipe lagging round the core of the standard bobbin. You can just see it on the right hand side. So far so good.

Nearly, but not quite right

2008-01-07T17:35:00.000Z

This is what happens when you start the toe decreases one round too soon on the second sock. With just one round to go, it was obvious that the pale blue section would be much smaller. Having got the heels to match, it would have been silly to leave it, so a-ripping I went. I should be finished later today, hopefully with a toe that I'm happy with.

The facecloth was finished and put to use. The Rowan cotton makes it very soft and it is great for this purpose. I bought a large quantity of odd balls of this stuff a couple of years ago with the intention of knitting a multicoloured sweater. That intention never came to anything, so I see a lot of rather nice facecloths in my future.

I had one fibre related present at Christmas, thanks to my youngest son asking me what I would like. He bought me both these books, bless him. I'm trying to decide which socks to knit next, once I have the offending toe fixed.

It's 2008!

2008-01-01T16:36:00.000Z

Now that the festivities are drawing to a close, maybe life will get back to normal. This would mean getting some more fibery things done, maybe. I haven't completely stopped knitting, but progress has been slow.

I knew the tree had to be useful for something beyond dropping needles everywhere! This is a facecloth in progress made with Rowan Handknit cotton. I'm using 4mm needles and it feels nice. My previous one has worn rather thin and stringlike, so it's high time I made a replacement. The pattern is from the Dishcloth Boutique. It's in the second column on the page, the Purled Ladder cloth.

Oblique is growing, the back is done and one front is just about ready for the increases above the waist. I managed to find a source of more yarn for this project, and three extra balls arrived just before Christmas (same dyelot), so I should have plenty now. It's Yarnela Meadow, which is 80% alpaca and 20% silk, and is not widely available.

I've even done a bit of crochet. This is the start of the Rosemary sweater from the fall issue of Interweave Crochet. The colour is a little bit more green than the picture shows. I've always wanted to make crochet garments which are wearable, stylish, not too holey and which aren't granny squares joined together. I like my jumpers to be decent when worn without a t-shirt underneath. No offense intended to those who like wearing large-scale net based garments or granny squares, but they aren't for me.

It's been a busy time

2007-12-23T11:50:00.000Z

Life has been rather hectic around here, and the knitting has suffered as a result. Apart from the seasonal preparations, the main setback was the writing off of our car as it sat parked outside our house. The lady who lives over the road had a bizarre parking incident with her car which resulted in collision with ours, and the subsequent writing off. The lady wasn't injured, just very shaken. So we've been searching for a replacement, which has taken much stamina and resilience. It's surprising how stressful this sort of thing can be.
Fortunately, we've found one, a couple of years newer and I really like it.

In knitting news, I started knitting Oblique with the frogged alpaca/ silk yarn. I'm past the start of the raglan shaping of the back now. I'm pleased with it so far and the size seems okay. It's going to need some serious blocking, especially the central lace pattern which seems to condense amazingly. Mystic Waters is taking some time out, until I can get some quiet time to concentrate on it, it isn't knitting to watch TV by. I'm nearly at the end of clue 3 of 8, so there's still plenty to do. Other than that the only thing actively on the needles is a simple stocking stitch sock.
My wheel has taken refuge in the back bedroom since the Christmas tree is now standing where it was. So, no spinning for a while.

Three ply

2007-12-11T23:10:00.000Z

Well I finally found the time to ply the BFL and now have a 3 ply, 250m skein which is really soft and lovely. I overplied on purpose until it looked right to my eye, and it has balanced with washing. I've found that if I ply a balanced yarn, it usually looks underdone to me. Hence the overplying this time. This may have to marinate in the stash for a while until I decide what to make with it. It seems a shame to hide it on my feet as socks, even if there is enough.

Finished! One hat, scarf and mittens set. Not quite matching in style, but very colour coordinated. The hat was spun thick and thin singles BFL, dyed after spinning, and the mitts and scarf are both 2 ply from the same 100g of superwash merino which I dyed before spinning. The scarf is a simple chequered pattern, easy to do and it lies flat.

Change of plan

2007-12-07T23:26:00.000Z

I decided that the fingerless mittens (Maine morning mitts) were too big so I ripped them and made these. They aren't anything special, but they are very soft and warm. I'm in the process of knitting a scarf with the remaining 50g of handspun superwash merino. It'll be a short scarf, the sort you wear under your coat to keep your neck warm rather than outside it.

Two and a half bobbins of the superwash BFL singles are done, hopefully I'll be plying this weekend. I can't wait to see how it turns out. If I have enough they'll be the most brightly coloured socks I've made yet!

Blocking the stole

2007-11-30T16:39:00.001Z

I couldn't fit it all in to one shot, so here are both ends. I borrowed some stainless steel welding wires which worked pretty well. It blocked to roughly 18" by 78" which is why it hangs over the end of the mattress!
I'm glad it's done, although it feels as if something is missing now, I suppose Mystic Waters will have to fill the gap. I do like it, but as the rows get longer, progress seems very slow.

Secret of the Stole finished

2007-11-26T19:19:00.000Z

It needs blocking, but it's done. I really enjoyed knitting this and I like it very much. I have no idea what the theme is at the moment, so I'll wait to find out after Friday. I only used just over 100g of the mystery yarn, so maybe I should overdye the rest and use it for something else. How many people use the same colour yarn for multiple lace projects? After all I still have the scarf from Victorian Lace Today to finish, using this same yarn.

I've been spinning the dyed BFL and it's going quite well. Since I seem to be getting rather thin singles, I've decided to go for a 3 ply, but not navajo plied which I find hard to be consistent with. One bobbin is done and I've started the second. This could end up being a muddy mess colourwise, but we'll see. If I don't get enough yardage for socks, I'll rethink my options.

Back to normal

2007-11-21T16:06:00.000Z

Phew, it's been quite a week. The computer stuff is almost all sorted out now, thank goodness. I thought I'd include a picture of the motherboard for posterity. Apparently there used to be a component to the left of the black cylinder.

I've been dyeing some superwash Blue Faced Leicester fibres, with a view to creating another pair of socks. Not very imaginative, but I'm a bit short of ideas for small quantities of yarn. The thought of spinning enough for a sweater is daunting for me yet. This is beautifully soft, however the dye job didn't turn out quite like I anticipated, but never mind. At least I have something nice and colourful to spin now....

..unlike this cashmere/merino laceweight which I've been plying like crazy all week. I finally got to the end of my 100g and made a skein. Curly isn't it? It's drying now after being dunked in a strong detergent solution to get rid of the spinning oil - the water was filthy. I'm pleased to say that it looks pretty good and feels much softer for it.

The picture is a bit fuzzy, but I've got onto clue 7 of the Secret of the Stole, it's a very pleasant knit. The end is in sight now and then I'll have to concentrate on Mystic waters which is going a bit slower. I've just started clue 3 and the rows are getting longer which isn't a surprise, but it's amazing how long each one takes.

I'm back - sort of

2007-11-17T18:43:00.000Z

My life on the net came to an abrupt halt a week last Friday when my computer suffered catastrophic failure. The power supply went up with a bang and took the motherboard (and possibly other things) with it. The last week has been spent deciding what to get as replacements and then fitting everything and the upshot is that I have a newer, faster machine. Of course it needed a reinstall of everything, so I'm not done yet. Still I'm up and running which is great. I've been missing my online life and I didn't even get much knitting done which would have been some compensation. That said I did finish a sock earlier today, and the lace knitting is progressing: Secret of the Stole is nearly 75% done, and I finished clue 2 of Mystic waters.

I'm still looking for the camera software, so pictures next time hopefully.

Yarn for lace

2007-11-08T23:18:00.000Z

I think I cracked it! Here is my small (balanced) skein of plied cashmere/merino. I know how many treadles to the foot length it needs to achieve balance. It's a lot. Eight. It's going to take ages, but it'll be worth it. This yarn is really soft and just the right thickness for lace knitting. I don't get on so well with the very fine yarns.

Clue 5 of Secret of the Stole is done just in time for the next clue tomorrow. Hopefully there will be some interesting patterning to do. I got a little fed up with all those bubbles. I think they look fine, they were just a bit repetitive to do.

Mystic waters is growing slowly, I'm about 2/3 through the second clue, and I'm going to need a much longer needle soon. Ah well, I suppose it's a good excuse to buy more Addi lace needles. It's a shame the Knitpicks set doesn't go down to 3.25mm or I could use them.

Doing the twist

2007-11-06T18:24:00.000Z

Three of the current WIPs are lacy knits. The Secret of the Stole and Mystic waters are making progress. I'll probably take pictures at the end of the current clues. The Kaalund scarf has grown to about two feet, so quite a bit to go. My Knitpicks Options set arrived on Saturday, and I'm really impressed with it. The points are nicely pointy for those awkward manoeuvres, and the join is really smooth. My other project is just a simple sock, very mindless knitting. I'm looking for a sweater pattern which maybe doesn't exist for the alpaca/silk I recently frogged, so I may have to design one myself, although I don't feel much inspiration at the moment.

I'm trying to make a cone of cashmere/merino which I bought recently into useable yarn. It is a very fine single which looks okay on the cone, albeit very fine. However, it is extremely overspun. The picture shows, from the top, the yarn straight from the cone; the same stuff washed; two ply without enough twist washed; two ply with more twist washed; and at the bottom, how it behaves when allowed to twist as it likes. So, it needs a lot more plying twist than I've given it yet. I'm hopeful that if I can get it right, I'll end up with nice soft lace weight yarn at about 800m per 100g.

Still up to speed

2007-11-01T14:30:00.001Z

Clue 4 of Secret of the Stole is done, I even managed to do a bit more in order to lengthen it. The stitch marker shows the extent of the pattern as charted. It measures 18" x 37" unblocked. The next clue is released tomorrow - I hope there aren't too many more of the circular motifs to do! I know that particular pattern by heart now.
My cold is much better now, just a bit of a cough and some sneezing, which is a relief.

I've been spending some time in Ravelry, but the thought of going through my stash is overwhelming. For the time being, I'll just catalogue the yarns which are easy to get to!

I have no willpower

2007-10-30T14:19:00.001Z

What can I say? I cast on for the Mystic waters KAL. It looks very wrinkly until it's stretched out, as most lace does. The pattern is fairly dense with a lot of decreases and YOs per row. I haven't had to rip very much, mostly I've missed out the occasional YO which is pretty easy to fix once identified.

As a further example of my lack of willpower I ordered a set of KnitPicks Options needles and a couple of extra cables in longer lengths. It seems they are in stock, so I should get them this week.
I blame these lapses on the horrid cold and cough I've been suffering with the last ten days or so, I need something nice to compensate!

The top down alpaca/silk raglan sweater became a UFO once I realized just how saggy it was. The yarn is so soft and floppy that it needs seams to give it some stability. So, armed with the ball winder I went frogging. I have an idea, but I've yet to actually design it.

Finished Mitts

2007-10-28T15:16:00.000Z

I finished the second one last night. They really are very warm and snuggly. They are the Maine Morning Mitts by Clara Parkes. I changed them slightly by knitting more rounds before the thumb opening, but otherwise the pattern was fine. They took 46g of my 100g ball of merino.

I've been swatching for another shawl, this time the Mysticwaters KAL, which looks as if it's going to be a nice design. I have some 2 ply superwash wool on cone (really for machine knitting) which feels a bit harsh, but softens up after washing to get rid of the spinning oil. I think the 3.25mm needles will be about right since I like the stocking stitch portions of lace to look reasonably solid.

I ended up navajo plying the remainder of the spun silk so I'm now trying to think of a way to use all of these.

Plied silk and wool and Ravelry too.....

2007-10-26T19:01:00.000+01:00

Clue 3 of Secret of the Stole is done, just in time for clue 4. It only measures about 26" long at the moment, so I think I'll be putting in the lengthening rows. This will mean I'll be late starting clue 5, 'cos I'm just not getting very much quality lace knitting time lately.

Here's the first of a pair of fingerless mitts knitted with the handspun and dyed superwash merino. I went up to 5.5mm needles because this yarn is very springy although the yardage suggested DK weight.

I've spun about a quarter of the silk caps and plied them with various colours of corriedale sliver.
There's still more left, it really goes a long way. Now I'm trying to work out what to make with it. There's about 145m altogether.

I got my Ravelry invite today and I've done the preliminary stuff, but it'll take a while for me to get up to speed with it. My name is YarnTinker which is quite appropriate since I almost never get away without tinking something.

Dyeing silk caps

2007-10-20T19:33:00.000+01:00

The dyed caps before fixing

Dry and catching on everything they touch! Predrafted and extra drafted

Singles

I thought I'd have a go at dyeing and spinning some silk caps which I bought a while back. I already tackled some silk hankies a few months ago and got on pretty well with them. Well, I dyed the caps first, and when they were dry, I separated a few of the layers and predrafted them. These produced a rather lumpy yarn, so I resorted to completely drafting it into very thin strips. This worked better although there are a lot of slubby bits. I could only do this much before my hands were complaining. Pulling silk around is quite hard work, the fibres are very long and stick to anything they come in contact with. I tried wearing some vinyl gloves, which helped for a while until static built up and then they were useless. It must have been quite a sight, me shaking these lengths of silk about trying to make them let go.

Knitting wise, I've done a few rows of the third clue for the Secret of the Stole, and my mindless knitting sock has grown a bit. I'm using my new Knitpicks circulars, 2.75mm, for these and they are marvellous, the points are nice and pointy and the cable join is excellent. I was so pleased to find a supplier in the UK. I'm seriously tempted by the Options set.

I'm ahead of the game

2007-10-18T15:00:00.000+01:00

My Secret of the Stole is coming along and I'm ready and waiting for the next clue. So far this is going well. I've been undecided about starting any more lace projects, but for now I'm going to keep going with those already on the go - this decision may change at any time of course!

Textured hat done

2007-10-17T11:29:00.000+01:00

The hat is done. I knitted it top down on two 7mm circulars. There wasn't enough yarn to do a turn up brim, but that would have made it too warm anyway. It's very organic looking and very warm. I'm going to reserve this for the coldest days yet to come. This yarn isn't quite Colinette Point 5 but it cost a lot less and it was fun to make.

I made a start on the Kaalund scarf and then ripped it out and started over with a different stitch pattern and different size needles (3.75mm) . This is a variation on feather and fan and it looks pretty good I think. Strangely, the colours in this are very similar to the cushion - different proportions, but similar. I'm obviously going through a yellow, orange and reddish purple phase.

I'm more than three quarters through the second clue of the Secret of the Stole, so should be done in time for Friday's instalment. This design seems to be mainly stocking stitch with lace motifs, rather then allover lace, which means it goes quite fast.

Different effects

2007-10-12T23:10:00.000+01:00

This is the completed first clue of the 'Secret of the Stole', the next clue was released earlier today. I'm using 3.75mm Addi lace needles and some anonymous wool laceweight I bought on eBay. I'm not using beads, I think that would be asking for trouble!

Pictures really are worth a thousand words. I'm still waiting to get a cushion pad, but here's the cover ready and waiting. The same fibre, very similar colours and each side completely different to look at. I really like the stripes, but the colour distribution of the second side surprised me with it's symmetry.

Finished objects

2007-10-10T22:36:00.000+01:00

The bedsocks were done yesterday, the second short row heel went smoothly, so I'm a convert to the YO method whenever short rows are required. The first photo shows I'm more supple than I thought I was! These will be put to use straight away.

Dropping in to my LYS yesterday, I was pretty restrained, but this came home with me. It should make a pretty lacy scarf, maybe for a gift. If I can bear to part with it . It's Kaalund Classic Two wool in Guava. Each 50g ball has 356m. The knitted sample in the shop was soft and had lovely drape. I'll be looking for a pattern stitch for this soon. Further to my dilemma the other day, I cast on for the Secret of the Stole and have finished the first clue. I'm using some nameless mauve laceweight I have, I don't know the yardage, but I'm optimistic I have enough. No picture yet, but it's looking good. The long awaited cone of cashmere and silk blend should be mine tomorrow when I collect it from the sorting office. I missed the postman this morning, very annoying.

Decisions, decisions

2007-10-07T14:38:00.001+01:00

I plied the green merino and finished up with 190m of roughly DK weight. I think I should have put a bit more twist in when I plied it, but I'm happy with it overall.

I've finished a sock with a short row heel which is going to be a bedsock. It's not a conventional bedsock, but so long as it's warm I don't care. Now to knit the other one! I've used short rows now and again, but never got on well with wrapping and turning in sock heels, I'd miss the wraps or drop stitches and generally mess it up. This time I used the YO method and what a difference that made, I wish I'd tried it before. The yarn is pure wool Jojoland Rhythm worsted weight on 4.0mm needles.

I've been driving myself nuts by getting caught up in a couple of knitalongs, the Secret of Chrysopolis stole and Secret of the stole - both lace projects and so far as I can tell so far, quite different styles. I signed up quite late for both of these and am frustrated that the yarn I bought is held up in the postal strikes we have at the moment. I really don't know why I should even think I can cope with two more lace projects, but the temptation to do both is great.

Slow going

2007-10-03T23:13:00.000+01:00

I divided my shades of green merino tops in half and predrafted strips of the different shades before spinning them in a repeating sequence. I'll do the same for the other half, but I'll vary the sequence. It should be quite interesting when plied.

Sorry to say that not much substantial progress has happened with any of my knitting. I've been adding a few rows here and there. That's one of the drawbacks of having several projects on the go at once. The ripple cushion is the one with most growth. You can start to see where I changed yarns from the dyed and then spun to the spun and then dyed (the 2 or 3 inches nearest the needle). I was a bit worried that this singles yarn would cause biasing, but there isn't a hint of it.

This is definitely an improvement on the biased neckband I had before. I worked a twisted rib back and forth, so now I have a seam to sew. I'll do the same for the other bands too when I get to them.

Shades of green

2007-09-30T22:44:00.000+01:00

This is a 60" skein which I dyed in 2" sections with a sequence of different greens. The small skeins in the middle are commercial yarns with wool or alpaca content along with some acrylic and I wanted to see how much dye they would take up. Not a lot as it turns out.

I was wondering how many different shades of green I could get from lime, sunshine, bluebell and charcoal. This was the question I tried to answer yesterday. The result was five variations, all quite pale, but nevertheless interesting. I think I need to get some deeper colours of acid dye because then I could get a wider range of shades. The green skein is the 75m of thick and thin BFL from the other day and because I miscalulated the amount of dye I needed for it, I ended up dyeing the last 100g of superwash merino broken tops as well. I'm thinking hat and mittens maybe.

I've made some progress with the alpaca, I now have three skeins done. I'm having fantasies about drum carders since I find carding to be quite a challenge. I can't seem to avoid the doubled up fibres which occur. Still, somehow I'm getting fairly consistent length/weight ratios for each skein - about 2m/g. This is another 140m waiting for the twist to be set.

Biased

2007-09-28T14:59:00.000+01:00

I know that 1 x 1 ribbing worked in the round has a tendancy to bias. I know why it happens, all circular knitting does it to some degree, but I don't know how to avoid it. This may not be too much of a problem in a small item like the twisted ribbing in the Monkey socks, but the neckband of this sweater is a disaster. I hadn't noticed how bad it was until I'd cast off some of it. Back to the drawing board. I do have an idea of how to get a better looking band, which I'll try later.

This is the cushion so far, I wanted to do something other than plain stocking stitch and the idea of a ripple appealed to me. It's going well although I might do some surface crochet up the lines of yarn overs, to fill the holes and add a bit more colour interest. We'll see.

Warm feet for me

2007-09-26T19:36:00.000+01:00

The socks are done, washed and ready to wear. I'm very happy with them and I definitely want to make more. They are toe up, using Judy's Magic cast on, 60 stitches around on a 3mm Addi lace needle, magic loop. I used this as the starting point for the heel, fudging the number of stitches a bit. The cast off is the Norwegian cast off and I used a 3.25mm needle for it.

The two skeins of singles just before I wound them ready to cast on for the cushion cover. A swatch showed that a 5mm needle should be fine for this. I only did about three rows yet, and it feels lovely and soft to knit, but then BFL is supposed to be!

Got some dyeing done

2007-09-23T23:08:00.000+01:00

Finally, I managed to spin the dyed sliver and finished up with about 150m of variable thickness singles. Then I realised that the undyed singles were a lot thicker (75m, oops) than the coloured ones, so I spun some more and this time I got 170m. It seems that it is harder to spin consistently when making uneven yarn than it is when spinning fine singles. I may dye the thicker skein in a different colourway and make a hat.

Here are the two dyed skeins side by side, drying after all the fun this afternoon. I managed to get similar shades, but obviously the colour distribution is very different. I can't wait to get knitting with this.

This book arrived a few days ago, I think it will be good for ideas. I need to have a reading session instead of flicking through which is all I've done so far.

Bright colours

2007-09-21T14:30:00.000+01:00

This is over 100g of blue faced leicester sliver having a rinse after being dyed. I tried not adding any vinegar until after I'd put the colours where I wanted them which helped with the colour blending. Previously, I'd acidified the wool before dyeing, and then the dye stayed where it was put, which might be what is wanted, but not this time. This is definitely freestyle dyeing - add a bit of this and a bit of that and see what develops.

This is it when dry. I'm going to spin this into thick and thin singles like these...

and then knit a cushion cover for the spinning chair. The undyed yarn won't be that way for long, I hope to get that dyed over the weekend in a similar colourway to the sliver and then that will make the back of the cushion. This way I should get to see the difference it makes dyeing the fibre or the yarn first.

The second sock is under way, it's actually a bit further along than this picture shows. The first one fits fine and I'm thrilled that my plans for these socks worked out. I should even have a bit of yarn left over.

Booties and alpaca

2007-09-17T19:30:00.000+01:00

I really appreciate all the lovely things that have been said about my stole. Thank you all.

Over the weekend, not a lot of knitting went on, but I did make something, from start to finish. They are (small and rather fiddly) bootees from the book I won last week; '50 Bootees to knit' by Zoe Mellor. I made the smallest size using some 4 ply baby superwash merino in non gender specific colours. There are supposed to be some french knots around the top of the foot, but I decided against them after several attempts failed miserably. I can do them with embroidery floss on linen, but can I do them on knitting? Anyhow, I like them just as they are.

I started another sock, this time in a commercial yarn. I haven' t got enough done yet to show up in a photo though. I've finished the first handspun sock, I'll take a picture tomorrow.

My ongoing spinning project comes under the category of ' What on earth was I thinking?' I bought about 800g or 1.75lb of raw alpaca fleece soon after I got my wheel. The fleece is lovely and soft, very dusty, and it is quite a challenge for a new spinner who has got used to prepared rovings. I spun two skeins like this one while the fleece was unwashed. I've washed about half of the rest, and I've just started spinning some of that. It's going to take persistance. The plied yarn is ending up roughly double knit thickness and it is fairly fluffy. I was expecting a smoother effect. This is going to take a while!

I've tried spinning it from the lock and also carded it to get parallel fibres, but it isn't easy for me. I expect it will get easier with practice. I certainly hope so. It would help if I could decide what I want to make with the finished yarn.

Unpinned

2007-09-15T16:24:00.000+01:00

Here it is in all it's glory, the blocking wasn't perfect, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I'm glad I made it symmetrical, all I did was to use the feathers pattern inside the shape made by the chevron. I followed the chart for the symmetrical border which was posted by a very clever knitter, whose name I don't know. Thank you.

I've never tried 'taking pictures of yourself in the mirror' before! It isn't easy. This is the best I could manage.

It's Blocking Friday

2007-09-14T13:25:00.000+01:00

I finally had the time to block my mystery stole. I threaded crochet cotton through the long edges before I washed it, which helped a lot in the absence of blocking wires. I used an old duvet cover over a mattress to pin to. The cover is a stripey pattern, so very good for straight edges. I didn't stretch the lace too much or I would have had multiple scallops along the edges. It measures about 19 x 72 inches.

The sock is coming along well, just a bit more leg to do and then some ribbing. I started with 97g, so the little scales DH bought me for my birthday a couple of years ago will come in useful.

Here is my trial skein of spinning a thicker single. This is the vibrant pink corriedale which came with my drop spindle kit. It is somewhat thick and thin and a little bit overspun. This is a very quick way to use up sliver and to fill a bobbin.

Another bobbin

2007-09-12T14:01:00.000+01:00

Three ply here I come! When I got my wheel ( a Louet S10), it came with three bobbins, which is fine if all you want to spin is 2 ply. So I found a source of new ones, placed an order for one, and it arrived yesterday. DH has said he will make a bigger lazy kate to fit where the existing one goes, then I will be all set. Typically, the next spinning experiment I want to try is to spin a thicker single ply yarn which I want to knit and then felt or full. I decided after my last spinning session that I really need a cushion for my spinning chair. The idea is to make a cushion cover. At least DH will have plenty of time to make the kate!

The first merino sock is going well, almost to the start of the heel shaping. The colours look a little washed out in this picture, but there's some interesting striping going on. I'm using a 3mm Addi lace needle, they are brilliant for socks as well as lace. Tension is around 7.5st and 10 rows per inch.

The mystery stole is done and awaiting blocking. I've found a place to stretch it out, now all I need is the time.

Progress

2007-09-09T18:20:00.001+01:00

Here we have it - 293m of two ply merino which I plan to knit into socks. I'm quite pleased with it, although there are a few parts which could be better. There are a couple of underplied sections, and I'm not sure why - maybe I lost count of the treadling. Anyway, it's the first handspun which I made with a purpose in mind, which is very satisfying. Since I've only had my wheel a couple of months, I think I'm doing okay. At the moment, it is drying and I should be able to wind it tomorrow. Something to look forward to...

Finally, I am on the home straight with the mystery stole, only about 20 rows to go and they're all getting shorter. I spent some of this afternoon on this, it needed peace and quiet for the necessary concentration, however, I was making more mistakes to start with than I usually do when watching TV at the same time. Why is that I wonder? Maybe I'm better at multitasking than I think!