Here comes the rain again

I finished spinning the last of the tops that I dyed this week.  This one is BFL/tussah silk/angora.  I call it here come the rain again because it reminds me of the Eurythmics song by that name and rain clouds encroaching on a blue sky, which is a happy sign for me, I love rain.

Spun on my Little Gem and navajo plied on my Ashford beginners spindle it’s 177metres and on average 9 wpi so an aran/worsted/10ply weight depending how you like to term it. Though it’s not the best I’ve ever spun, this one’s staying in my stash because the colours are so very me.  I wish I could remember what I used so that I can replicate it to some degree.  Hindsight eh!

Hand-spun to hand-knit

I’m a bit excited by the results of knitting my hand-spun, hand-dyed, navajo plied yarn.  I need to share the sample I knit with you.

I think it’s pretty and also when I put it next to the bunny nuggets I can see progress, which is good.  I should do this more often.  The trouble is I want to knit with hand-spun most of the time but I also want a larger hand-spun to mill-spun ratio in my stash and in order to do this I must knit more mill-spun.

The most exciting thing about this though, is that now I’m reassured that I could spin well enough to make a beautiful hand-spun jumper which is a bit of an ambition of mine.  First of all though I need to make this jumper for Sam, should I feel bad that his jumper is going to be kind of a prototype?  Today I got him to stand still long enough for me to take measurements except that I forgot to take the top of shoulder to armhole measurement which is probably kind of crucial, doh!  I’m also going to be doing more swatching.  I’m having a bit of difficulty finding some zip up, mesh, laundry  bags so I can start washing my fleeces ready for spinning, the last 3 times I went to my local supermarket they didn’t have any, I’m going to try Kmart next.  Then I can make my hand-spun, hand-knit jumper, squeee!

Sunday means a FO and a new WIP.

I know not many people get excited about vanilla socks and posh, fancy patterned socks are all the rage but I’m weird ok! I happen to love vanilla socks made from beautiful hand-dyed yarn. I find them soothing and I’m also easily amused by pretty colours. These socks were particularly appropriate as a lot of the time I was knitting them during hospital appointments and during my immediate post operative period. I should explain to those of you who don’t know me IRL that I had surgery last Monday, no, not a brain transplant. I’m recovering well and looking forward to all the knitting I’m going to be doing during my recovery period. It seems that every cloud does indeed have a silver lining.

They were knit with Sereknitty BFL sock yarn in Neptune colourway, favourite toe up sock pattern of course details here . This was my fist time knitting socks with BFL sock yarn and I must say I love the feel and look of the finished fabric, it looks and feels a bit silky. The yarn was lovely to knit with and the colours beautifully clear. The pooling is slightly different on each sock, I don’t mind that, it’s one thing I’m not obsessive about. I can’t say anything about how they wear and their elasticity compared to merino/nylon because I’ve just finished them. So I’ll have to let you know later, I’m hoping they stand up to the job because I have heaps more BFL sock yarn in my stash.

As for my new project it’s Owls by Kate Davies which is one of the KALs for the Richmond knitters for June and July. The other one is skew which I haven’t decided either way whether I shall do or not. I’m knitting Owls in grey Icelandic Lopi not the Suffolk I originally planned due to gauge issues. So far I have swatched and washed my swatch, a lesson learned from Idlewood there. I’m told that Owls is a quick knit, I wonder whether I can knit it in a week…

A hive of activity and new loves

My wheel arrived on Monday and I would have posted earlier but I was on my way to knit night with the Richmond knitters when I got the text and then I was at work on Tuesday and so yesterday was the first day I had to get to know Owen.  So called because that’s the name written on the underside of the wheel “Owen Poad”, maybe the guy that made my wheel, I don’t know, I would love to know though so if anyone can tell me I’d be grateful.  Two other friends that have Little Gems have Andy Poad and Jemima Poad, I’m sure we shall be having many a spin-in together which will be heaps of fun and the whole point of a Little Gem, you pop it in the bag and go and spin with friends.

It would be very true to say that Owen is my new love, he is so pretty and very eager to put twist into fibre.  It’s very exciting this new love affair as I’m learning how to spin with him, it’s quite a different feel to spindling but knowing that we have a lifetime of making beautiful yarn together makes me so happy.

I haven’t lost any love for my beautiful spindles though so don’t worry. Anyway, pardon my waffling on.  Pictures are required, so without further ado, here he is…

Isn’t he gorgeous?  I’m spinning the BFL/Tussah silk Wintry walk on Filey beach that I dyed first and it’s looking very pretty.

On the day that Owen arrived a parcel of fibre that I ordered from Spun Out also arrived, It’s New Zealand Polland which, is a blend of Polwarth and Gotland.  Polwarth is a fibre I have spun a taster of before and Gotland has been on my must spin list for a while now.  It is a primitive breed from the Island of Gotland and their fleeces are supposed to be a handspinner’s dream, as fine as Merino and as lustrous as Wensleydale, how could I resist?  I shall wait until Owen and I are much better acquainted before I spin it I think, as I want to do it justice.  Also, I need to start thinking about spinning with a purpose and not just randomly spinning things because I want to, so I shall have a ponder. Here is a picture of that lovely fibre…

On the knitting front, I turned the heel on the first sock, yay socks!  The BFL sock yarn is lovely, soft and shiny-pretty in my favourite colours, if you haven’t tried BFL sock yarn do it!  You must experience the soft, shiny, prettiness, though the silky sheen isn’t all that apparent in this poor photograph.

Although David’s toe up sock cookbook could well be my all time favourite sock pattern, particularly good for handspun socks, oooh, handspun socks, drooooool.  I have purchased two more toe-up sock books the first arrived today.

It’s true to say there isn’t a sock pattern in this book that I don’t want to knit so while I waited for the book to arrive I dyed some BFL sock yarn to knit socks with, I particularly wanted some solid colours for the intricate cable patterns because I think they look stunning in solid colours so here’s the outcome.

Not bad for a beginner I think.  I shall dye some more soon, I have another 6 undyed hanks but need to have a think about colours first.

Well that’s all my exciting news for now.  As life isn’t all about the fun stuff, I have to leave it there, essential housework needs doing unfortunately, then brownie baking at the boys’ insistence.

ttfn Melanie x

BFL

It turns out that once I get started spinning, I can’t stop. This certainly seems the case with the maple BFL and it was defintely the case with the welsh black.  I do love the process of spinning, there is something about working the fibre that is hypnotic and magical and I still look at the finished hank and marvel that it looks like actual yarn.

So I finished spinning the singles on Wednesday night and then plied on Thursday night whilst watching TV.  I am really happy with the results too.  The colours so beautifully autumnal and the yarn itself is really soft and bouncy.  Because BFL has a longer staple length than merino makes it a bit easier to spin, it has a prettier sheen to it than merino too.  I tried to get as much twist into the yarn without making it hard and unpleasant because I had sock yarn in mind.  Basically it’s an experiment in “is it possible for me to spin sock yarn” if it is then yay!

As keen as I am to knit this yarn up to see if it could work as sock yarn it has to undergo the obligatory petting and cooing until the fact that I actually spun real yarn sinks in, I’m a bit slow sometimes.  I have about 15 grams of singles left with which I will yet again attempt to navajo ply hopefully with a bit more success than I’ve previously met with.

I hope you have a great weekend, I’ve opted to do an overtime shift, well yarn and fibre has to be paid for somehow!

ttfn Melanie x

Opposites

Yesterday morning I had nothing on the needles and nothing on the spindles.  It was a day full of crafty potential, oooh what to do?  So I did two opposite things…

I began knitting a highly textured, very rustic, chunky hap blanket with handspun undyed Romney X, one of the first things I spun with a wheel.

I do love mindless garter stitch, so soothing.  I’m also loving knitting what I’ve spun.  I think perhaps the bug doesn’t hit you properly till you’ve knit what you’ve spun.  I think I may have got the bug big time.

I also began spinning some BFL tops dyed by Serenknitty in Maple colourway.  It’s very soft and smooth textured and wants to be spun finely and the colours say bring on Autumn!

I’m thinking sock yarn and getting giddy with excitement at this possibility.

Today I shall be sewing a skirt with Jamsandwich and then knitting with the lovely Richmond knitters. Joy!

ttfn Melanie x