New Year... New Things

I haven't done any knitting since Boxing Day! As I've had time off work and I didn't do much spinning before Christmas I've been indulging myself with spinning :o)

This should have been for DH for Christmas but the fibre only arrived Christmas week, so I spun it up afterwards... DH chose these colours after seeing what Natalie of The Yarn Yard had done with a previous fibre club parcel of a variegated and matching toning solid... He straight away said if you use some of the bright windows 16 bit colour palette colours and ply against a charcoal semi-solid you'll get a nice stripey yarn....

So here I give you 'Windoze' - A new fibre Natalie will be having in the shop shortly a Merino/Nylon blend which is an absolute dream to spin... I will be investing in more :o)

I am also taking part in a skein swap on Ravelry, so I spun this up and it's currently on its way to it's recipient... I hope she likes it... Again the fibre is from Natalie and is a blend of Merino/Silk spun up into a 3ply

After MissAliceFaye introduced me to Enchanted Knoll I ended up with some batts from Josette... which I have been itching to get to try out and turn into lace weight...... Here are 3.8oz Pumpkin Juice, which I started spinning last Friday...

Which I spun into 2 singles on my new e-system lace flyer & fat core bobbins using my fast whorl at 17.7:1 (I'm working my way up the ratios!) and produced these.....

After spending time plying on Monday I produced this..... I am as proud as punch with this even my plying has improved... 530m / 110g (612yds / 3.8oz) of 2ply lace weight at 30wpi

Now in the very near future this is going to be turned into a lace stole for a friend who is 60 in June... yes I'm starting early but from the end of June this year until the end of January 2010 I have 6 birthdays ending in a '0' and they all knit &/or spin... plus it lets me indulge my passions for spinning fine and knitting lace something which has been sadly lacking this last 12 months.... I'm planning to do one of two designs from 'Estonian Lace' by Nancy Bush so it's either going to be 'Leaf & Nupp Shawl' or 'Lilac Leaf Shawl'....

I enjoyed spinning the Batts so much I have started on the 'Fern Batts' from Josette unfortunately I'm back at work so time is a little less abundant, so this yarn won't get produced in 3 days....

Interlude...

We still have no heating :o( hopefully it will be seen today and either fixed today or tomorrow...

Our friend Mike came yesterday to visit and to collect his hand dyed sock yarn from the silent auction I hosted.... I came back in the room to find this scene ;o) and the comment 'the things you do for friends'.... For anyone that's interested he's modelling CW108 one of my very 1st shawls and Heartland by Evelyn Clark done in Buffalo yarn... in fact it was Mike who bought it me as a birthday present a couple of years ago so it seems only fitting he gets to use the shawl now and again!!!

Anyway I have had a little interlude from 'Christmas knitting'. Natalie of The Yarn Yard asked me if I would test knit some new lace yarn she has to go in the shop tomorrow, which is called Betwixt, and is a blend of 10% Cashmere & 90% merino.... it's very squishy in the skein...

I jumped at the chance to do a bit of lace for a change, so I did one of my favourite patterns 'Swallowtail' by Evelyn Clark. I had several reasons for picking this pattern to test knit the yarn. I knew I can do it fairly quickly, it’s an enjoyable knit (this is the 4th time for me), it’s a very pretty shawl and most importantly I knew it would give the yarn ‘a good work out’ in terms of lace knitting….

I find this pattern overall presents you with good solid and open areas to show off stitch definition. The pattern starts out with a nice easy pattern repeat which shows off colour well and then the lily of the valley pattern puts the yarn under ‘stress’ whilst doing Nupps, finally the peaked edging gives you a nice edging that you can really stretch out when blocking.

I am pleased to say that Betwixt lived up to all the criteria I want in a lace yarn….

It was very soft and ‘squishy’ and wound nicely into a ball with my ball winder.
It was nice to use and flowed easily through the fingers when knitting with it
It gave good stitch definition
It blocked well

I did notice when knitting that sometimes the yarn appeared to be ‘thin’ in places but I discovered this was just temporary when I was pulling the yarn tight to knit with it, but after releasing the stitch is ‘fluffed’ back to normal.

I used a 3.5mm needle and I personally wouldn’t go any higher, in fact next time I use this yarn I think I would opt for a 3.25mm as after blocking I would prefer my ‘knitted areas’ in the budding lace to be a little more solid, but that’s just my personal preference…

As those of you who are familiar with Swallowtail will see, the peaked edging is a little short as I had to omit the last 4 rows of it due to insufficient yarn, however, it's come out a respectable 48" across the top and 23" down the spine.

All round this is a good yarn for small projects and I will be using it in the future, especially it's £6.95 for a 25/26g skein with at least 300m on of every so slightly variegated colours...

This arrived this week from Juliespins etsy shop it was the 'not fibre club' she offered through Ravelry, were you signed up for a maximum of 8oz of fibre either all Wood or Surprise me or a combination of the two. I opted for 4oz of the 'Surprise Me' colourway in Merino/Silk which turned out to be called 'Polaris' it's beautifully soft and squishy...

How to Convince DH knitted things are a good idea

have the boiler conveniently pack up when you're expirencing the coldest weather so far this year!!!

My other half works from home quite a bit so this was the scene yesterday (and it's not much different today) when he had to spend his first day working from home after the boiler packed up...



I knit this Rowanspun top for him about 18 months ago, it was worn once until this week (today he has a t-shirt underneath the Rugby shirt as well). He has never worn a woolly hat or gloves in his life.. these were knit for a friend and left at our house; so now the regular John Deere cap is over the top of the beanie and he's very grateful for the fingerless gloves that go halfway up his arms.... What you can't see he has one of my shawls across is knees to keep them warm....

You might well ask what I'm wearing whilst I'm working from home in the same house - just a jumper and cardigan... says it all really doesn't it ;o ?

Anyway onto more exciting things than pictures of my DH dressed up... I finished knitting the fair isle gloves I designed and I have to say I am very well pleased with them.... They used just under 50g of Patons Diploma Gold 4ply and about 16g of Trekking Ombre sock yarn...


I still so hate knitting fingers though :o(

I've actually managed a bit of lace this week too.. quite basic but effective pattern to show my customers what can be done with one 25g ball of Rowans Kidsilk Haze - a scarf 6.5" x 45", excuse the bad photograph please...


On the spinning front I Navajo plied Sunny Side and got a very respectable (I am well chuft) 492m / 116g of sock yarn... and it stripes too ;o)


I've also finished spinning 'Rhubarb' which again will be socks when I've plied it next week... I'm working on another sock yarn at the moment 'Lime Fire' - these are all Christmas presents...


I have some secret knitting on the go at the moment to so unfortunately you won't be able to see anything of it until afer Christmas.... and I'm on the 2nd sock of both pairs of socks which are the last for Christmas...

Just to finish off some gratuitous Fibre pron :o) I'm actually thinking of insulating myself with all my fibre this weekend if the little man doesn't come to the boiler tonight... thank goodness we still have a coal fire...

From The Yarn Yard we have the first of n's 'Erica' series batts... beautifully carded several times to blend 7 different shades of green together especially aimed at Lace Knitters... theres 190g here I am so looking forward to spinning this...


From Loop we have 'Beautyberries' this is mainly Bamboo with some Mohair

and then all missalicefaye's fault from Enchanted Knoll we have 3 batts - Pumkin Juice, Fern & Chai

Each to their own....

I've been doing quite a bit of spinning recently after my 4 month unintentional break from it over the summer.... and it's quite frightening really how quickly you loose your ability to spin consistently and finely..... well I found I did.

I was really enjoying my spinning and was pleased with my progress and that eventually I produced something that resembled a nice sock yarn :o) Then you read on different Ravelry forums that it's difficult to spin thicker yarns once you get to producing fine yarns. Then there's the chatter about it and you get to feeling (I felt this way) that fine even yarns aren't 'the thing' and are easy to produce bu t the challenge lies in thicker yarns and Art Yarns...

And so we came to the Tour de Fleece which I commited to taking part in and signed up to do something different that I would normally do. I opted for Art Yarns...

I bought some BFL Superwash from The Yarn Yard that Natalie was dyeing up especially for the Tour de Fleece.... when it came there was 3 small seperate braids of individual colours and 150g of a beautifully dark to light braid in tones of greys.... it was a dream to spin as always and my idea was to ply it with metallics and add beads and such likes.... I found myself starting in ernest but as I got nearer and nearer the end of spinning the fibre I found myself not spinning as much and thinking it's so beeautiful it would be a shame to spoil it... eventually I stopped spinning and for 4 months the bobbin sat almost complete apart from 2, 8" strips of fibre to spin... I just couldn't do it as I knew that then I would have to despoil that beautiful fibre... so I stopped spinning for what turned out to be 4 months....

Eventually I don't know what it was perhaps the 2 or 3 kind people who rav mailed me and 1 even rung me because I wasn't really posting and hadn't produced much spinning to see if I was OK or the fact that this bobbin kept 'glaring' at me every time I walked in the lounge but eventually I did finish spinning the yarn and just simply navajo plied it but all the time I was thinking it should have been an Art Yarn.....

So I think what I'm trying to say is that spin the yarns you enjoy spinning and using and don't feel forced into spinning other yarns that you've no interest in. Whilst I love some of the Art Yarns I see out there especially the coil ones, they're not for me... I couldn't see myself knitting with them... I'm not saying I may never do one but the time has to be right and at the moment producing a 3ply sock yarn and lace yarn and even the odd DK weight yarn is were I'm happiest... There's room for everything and to me a yarn of beauty is one that is evenly spun and beautifully plied....

Since then spinning has resumed normal service I'm pleased to say although it's taken approxamately 500g of fibre before I've got some decent sock yarn..... I've just spun up this (I don't need to tell you were it came from ;o) )


and turned it into this
I've just Navajo plied the 1st bobbin this morning and I've got 132m / 50g so we'll see what the 2nd bobbin produces later tonight....

I've also started some merino / tencel again a similar thickness... The braid came as 3 seperate colours so I'm spinning them that way and then I will traditionally ply them... I warn you now these are not my normal pick of colours.....

told you they weren't my normal choice of colours!!!!

These arrived from Canada yesterday for me and they are a set of 2 pitch Mini Combs made by Andrew Forsyth

They are strong but yet light and quite easy to use, although I will purchase a clamp or put it on my Christmas list as it would make taking the fibre off the comb through a diz a lot easier.... so I now have to make a date with half a Romney Shearling fleece that's been waiting since summer (washed I hasten to add) for these combs to arrive.... but they were worth the wait :o)

This also came for me this week, it's Falkland (one of my favouites) and it's called 'Plum Tree' and it's from a relatively new dyer here in the UK called Spindlefrog


On the sock knitting front I've finished Paul's pair of socks for Christmas and he hasn't even noticed me knitting them. I thought he deserved a surprise pair as I usually end up knitting a Christmas pair for him in front of him.... These have the elegant title of "Die Nachbarn 1 Spiralsonne und Mondhaus" are are as you've guessed from the Opal Hunderwasser 2 collection....


I've now 2 or 4 pairs of size 4's to do and complete a size 8 pair but I'm halfway there on that one ;o) am still uming and awing if to keep the green fairisle ones.... perhaps I will, as I've decided I'll wait until after Christmas to do my sock knitting for myself.... and just knit socks for others before then. I owe Paul and our frind Mike a pair as I bought them some handyed sock yarn last Christmas and haven't knit it up for them yet... that's not to say I haven't knit them any socks since....


I've also been knitting something with my handspun but I will have to make you wait until a certain friends birthday has passed ;o)

Wet Wednesday

I was lost for inspiration on the title and it's very apt title anyway and it's the sort of weather that makes you want to spin and knit :o) and thus I completed my Trekking Colour socks...

I'm on a roll with my Christmas knitting this year... although I have a confession that the recipient may not receive these as I may just keep them myself... which is something I've never done before! I've knit about 53 pairs of socks now and have never ever thought I like these so much I'll keep them to myself... but anyone who knows my penchant for greens will know these are just my favourite sort of greens and coupled with the fairisle pattern I can see them ending up in my sock drawer ;o)

I have regained my spinning mojo in the last few days and eventually finished spinning the lovely neutral fibre supplied by Natalie of The Yarn Yard for the Tour de Fleece... which she is now stocking in her shop as part of her permanent collection in a choice of 5 different fibre types.... this is BFL Superwash


I split it into dark, medium & light sections and spun them one after another

and this is the resulting yarn - 160m / 150g so quite a chunky yarn for me... well it was going to be an art yarn and I just couldn't bring myself to spoil the fibre so I navajo plied it, so as it came out quite chunky I think it will be a scarf which will show off the gradation of colour I hope....

and then I went onto spin last months Fibre club offering from Natalie - Shetland

I just tore off in chunks and split lengthways to produce this lovely, soft, bouncy yarn - again a chunky yarn 124m / 100g

at the moment I'm spinning some Wensleydale I bought from The Yarn Yard at Woolfest this year... I am spinning from the fold and also attempting long draw but I suspect it's my version of long draw.... I think I could do with some tuition on this.....

Think that's all for now.....

Finishing things off..

I'm still alive just really haven't had much to show this last week or so and TBH have been a bit lethargic, whether it's this lovely inclement weather we're having at the moment that's making me feel weary I don't know, but thought I'd better post before you thought I'd dropped off the face of the earth....

There has been no further progress on the Spring Things shawl with the hand spun, but there has been progress on the 2 new pairs of socks I'm knitting and I also started a 3rd pair with some hand spun after finally mastering the Turkish Cast On thanks to FluffyKnitterDeb's step-by-step instructions...

I have however, been finishing things off, which means making up in my language... I started doing some basic crocheting back in March.... as I'd seen a bag in Candi Jensen's book Crochet Bags! I liked entitled 'Granny's New Bag'... so did the crocheting and then it's sat there for 6 weeks while I decided how I wanted to line the thing... anyway Monday was a full day of finishing off things...

I'd also decided I was going to crochet a basket too despite disparaging looks from DH, even more so when I said I was going to put a lid on!!!! Oh ye of little faith ;o) The yarn is Spunky Eclectic 'Goblin Eyes' I had that I spun up ages ago and as it's Romney it's quite harsh so thought it would make something utilitarian... this I only finished on Sunday but it's been on the go quite awhile... can't quite remember exactly but if you go look at my projects in Ravelry you'll see the exact dates....

On the spinning front just a couple of purchases, this one from All Spun Up is Superwash merino... I'm being brave here as I usually don't go in for fibre with lots of white!!! it scares me... I did actually purchase this at the end of June so it's not a recent purchase...

and from The Yarn Yard I pre-ordered this back in June too and it came the 5th July just in time for the start of the Tour de France.... and it is the Tour de Fleece fibre a neutral and a contrast, which is actually 3 separate braids of colour.... I have started on the neutral, well in fact nearly finished it, 150g of superwash BFL....

and that as they say is about it for now....

Actual Progress with Photos!

There's quite a lot of photos in here so be warned/enjoy!

Mmm were to begin... knitting I think then if anyone doesn't want to read through the spinning bit at the end they can skip it or vice versa :o)

On the sock knitting front I've managed to complete a pair of socks in the last two weeks; for those of you before you're quick to point out they don't match, I know ;o) I quite often complete pairs of socks that don't match but fear not every sock gets it's matching partner in the end, it just may take a while....

We have a completed Hundertwasser on the left and a Lana Grossa Bosco on the right. I'm sad to say that the import of Lana Grossa into the UK will be / has ceased and therefore Get Knitted won't be getting there sock yarn anymore :o( I'm rather fond of their yarn and their range of patterns especially the Meetings pattern which is so classy I've knit it 4 times already and have a further 2 balls in my stash....

Anyway I digress this pattern is 'Bosco' I say pattern because LOOK it's a repeating pattern Aghhhh!!!!! I've never seen this happen in another ball of Bosco it comes out all mingley not a definite repeating pattern, have I got the only ball of Bosco that does this???

Now those of you who know me well and my sock knitting know that I like matching socks, should they be designed to match...

well after the initial Aghhh moment about 10cm into this sock when I realised what was happening I've carefully watched all the way to the end to see if I can work out were in the yarn I started as yes you guessed it, I hadn't made a note of were I started, I didn't need to this yarn doesn't pattern!

After much consideration as I headed towards the toe I realised I'd be finishing the toe more or less were I should be starting so I decided that I would use as little as possible to graft the toe and then start the 2nd sock immediately after, which I did. Hey Presto! they match yeahhhh!!!! in fact I'm about 1 row out but who cares I certainly don't as it's in the rib and apart from the bright yellow and orange band the rest of the colours are all mingley and dark so it doesn't show :o)))

Crisis averted and sanity restored well almost..... I know I have 2 knots to overcome in the 2nd sock of the Hundertwasser :oS

On the non-sock knitting front I have completed anothe pair of Marvelous Mitts. I was asked to knit a 2nd pair after the recipient of the 1st pair was thrilled with them and after showing them round her family a much loved Aunt expressed great interest in them. As it's her birthday at the end of June I agreed to knit her a pair... although this then posed me with a problem she's a size 9 glove :oS

Remembering back to Eunny's "Endpaper Mitts" were she used different needle sizes to produce different sized gloves I opted for a 3mm needle instead of the stated 2mm and they've come out just about right :o) without any struggling necessary to get them on or in fact blocking for that matter!

I used Rowan 4ply soft in 'Marine' for the MC and some leftover 'Desert Flower' in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock for the CC... I'm pleased with them, but I still prefer my first pair in green and purple :o)

Next on the knitting front is some Lace.... I finally decided on the 'Spring Things' shawl to knit with my first hand spun lace... I opted for 3.75mm Addi Lace needles. I have to say it's slightly bigger than this now as I did a few repeats yesterday.... I'm feeling slightly smug as my yarn is nice to knit with and the colours are muted enough not to 'destroy' the pattern.... and surprisingly I haven't got board with the pattern, well yet!

OK on the spinning front... I finished the 'Blackberry' superwash merino from Freyalyn and managed 350m/100g... It's Navajo plied which I like for socks... I like the 'commercial' look to the yarn it produces... This will be off to it's new owner soon as it's a birthday present for a good friend....

On my wheel at the moment is some fibre from the Yarn Wench, Falkland to be precise. I love this fibre and find it easy to spin. I'm hoping to make sufficient yarn to do the Polka Dot Stole by Fiddlesticks for which the suggested yarn of Fiddlesticks Country Silk comes in at 800m / 250g... well I've got 300g of fibre so I'm in with a chance....

I'm also reducing my stash... well rather trying to 'manage' it so I'm using 3 different colourways of Falkland... this is the 2nd one I'm spinning for this 3ply, called "Last Tango 2" (I know country silk is a 2ply but I needed 300g and this was the easiest way to get the weight). It's also my first conscious attempt at spinning thicker singles, until now I've been working my way thinner and thinner... and whilst I have to concentrate more and refer to my 'control' sample a lot more I'm enjoying it....

This was the first one and is called "Sweet Pearl 2"

As you can see similar colours, the 3rd roving is similar in colour to this one, but has some common colours with the current one I'm spinning... It's either going to work really well or be a complete mess... I'll consider before I knit the stole if I like the yarn or it needs over dying or I may wait if I'm unsure about the yarn until I've knit the stole then over dye... who says knitting isn't adventurous or challenging ;o)

On the Stash enhancement side... Natalie of The Yarn Yard (see my sidebar) decided to do a shop update, what can you do but support a fellow small business owner.... I came away with one of her first batts 42g of Merino Sparkle +

bfl superwash - 'Lush'


bfl superwash - 'Turmeric'
I've also purchased a TdFleece pack from her in bfl superwash ready for the Tour de Fleece on Ravelry... if anyone wants one go check her site out it's £15 + p&p and you have to purchase before Monday 16th June as that's when she's going to be doing her one-off dying day for this... We've no idea about the colours so it'll be a surprise... I'm opting for the 'Breakway' group and I'm going to attempt, OK force myself to do art yarn, so I'm mentally preparing myself to produce yarn that is completely unusable... I'm already waking up in cold sweats a the thought of yarn which is just so impractical ;o)

The question is will I be able to do it?

Fibre is good for your diet, isn't it?

On the knitting front I completed DH's socks. My favourite pattern to work Lana Grossa Meetings (7740), this is the 4th time I've knit this pattern and the 4th different colourway.....

I've cast on another 2 pairs so I've Lana Grossa Bosca on the go (I'm starting my Christmas socks early this year) and Opal Magic which is for BIL's birthday at the beginning of June; I'm part way through the leg of the 2nd sock, so it's looking promising.....

The Heartland shawl is very nearly there I had a big push yesterday on knitting it, and I'm over halfway through the River of Life Edging, so hopefully next blog post will see it finished and blocked :o)))

And last but not least on the knitting front, do you remember the red & yellow sock yarn in my previous post? I said I'd given it to my friend Ann (blogless) to knit, well look what she did with it...... proudly presenting the Sunset Socks...

Hasn't she done a great job of making virtually matching socks... I think it's more down to my inability to split roving in half lenghtways evenly and my spinning skills that the pattern has gone astray on the foot of the 2nd sock..... To save you scrolling back down the fibre was my February/March fibre (BFL superwash) from The Yarn Yard Fibre Club.

I apologise now to everyone who isn't a spinner and isn't interested in spinning or looking at graphic images of fibre pron, as the rest of this post is spinning orientated....

Not by design, but I ended up with quite a bit of fibre arriving just in the last week or so.... The following 3 rovings are from The Yarn Wench and she was having a sale, so what could I do but participate? Serves me right I came in just over the £18 import on purchases so I had to pay the VAT & duty as well as the Royal Mails £8 handling charge; that bits gets me riled every time!!!

This is Chroma 2 - Falkland
This is Speckled Egg 1 - Merino

This is Sweet Pearl 2 - Falkland

Then my fibre from the The Yarn Yard Fibre Club arrived, which is gorgeous and is 50% Merino & 50% Tencel.....

Finally as I wanted to take part in the May SAL on Spinner Central on Ravelry (OK I've been looking for an excuse to order some roving from Amy)... I ordered some roving from Spunky Eclectic so I might as well make it worthwhile, so I ended up with :

M*A*S*H - Wool blend

Monkey Farts - Superwash Corriedale (DH can't get over the name ;o) )

and finally the reason I ordered the rovings, 'Joshua Tree' in South African Fine...

Now the Joshua Tree has since been turned into this:-

and finally in to this.....

A respectable first attempt at lace weight 636m / 100g & 28wpi & 6tpi (I used the 11.3:1 ratio on my Rose)

Now my only decision is what to make with it.... I've considered a few options but either I haven't sufficient yarn or my yarn is a bit thicker than a few of the patterns. I know that doesn't matter but I don't want to run out of yarn and would like a reasonable sized shawl... I have however decided not to include Swallowtail in the list having done 3 already I thought I'd go for something new. So far I have

1. Spring Things
2. Shetland Triangle - E Clark
3. Flower Basket
4. Forget-me-Knot
5. Hyacinth Lace

I would like to have done Laminaria but I don't have sufficient to do the larger version and I'm not sure I want to do the smaller version..... Anyone got any other suggestions?

I think I've waffled enough.... I'm a way for the Bank Holiday weekend, so I hope you all have a nice weekend and that the weather is good, but seeing it's a bank holiday I doubt it ;o) but we can live in hope...