Making Resolutions

While I was busily working away at the tail end of 2013, I kept telling myself that I would start a list of all the things I wanted to do when I had more time for me again.

I didn't ever write that list.

I've never been sure about New Year's resolutions, but instead I think I'm going to set myself a little monthly goal (for January at least)... something small for now, something fun, and something I can see myself achieving.

Very late in 2011 I bought a spinning wheel. I was super excited about it. Shortly afterwards I noticed I was almost never at home to use it :)

Very late in 2013, HilltopCloud introduced some non-wool blends into her shop, and very kindly offered samples for just the cost of postage... I snapped one up.

For a while I set myself a no work after 9pm rule and so over two evenings spun up two of the three samples:

First was a 65% silk, 35% kid mohair blend. in a dark purple and navy.

Second was a 65% llama, 35% faux cashmere blend with a slightly paler purple and grey.

Both samples were navajo plied to use up every last scrap. Sadly neither colour photographs well. Both yarns are beautifully soft and I can't make up my mind which one I prefer.

So, two down, one remains. I started the final sample very soon after these two but it wanted to be a much finer yarn and that meant there was no way I could get it all done in a single evening (especially not between 9pm and bedtime). So the startings of a single are sat on a bobbin waiting for the rest of the fibre to join them. It's been a while now and they're starting to get lonely.

JANUARY GOAL - Finish the last wool-free sample, then soak the lot to set the twist and work out their vital stats (yardage, wraps-per-inch).

That's it. Shouldn't be too hard...

Little Gifts

There's very little more exciting than the arrival of a squishy parcel in the mail. Today's squishy packet is my fibre club installment from easyknits. 50% White Corriedale, 25% Grey Corriedale and 25% Banana.

Oh for more time at the spinning wheel!

In Celebration of Green

Needful Yarns, Feeling:

A first chilli pepper:

Handspun:

Marin by Ysolda Teague:

Tomatoes:

Tour de Fleece - Days 1 to 4

This year I'm participating in my first ever Tour de Fleece. Each day I spin a little (rarely more than a little because time does not allow and various bits of my body are starting to complain).

For the first four days I worked on spinning up some mystery Fyberspates fibre with two Fibreholics samples I'd received in December 2010.

Day 1 (15g of something from a Fyberspates mystery bag):

Day 2 (~20g of Corriedale from Spinning a Yarn via Fibreholics):

Day 3 (~20g of BFL from Colourful Designs via Fibreholics):

Day 4 - YARN!! 52.5g of sportweight 3 ply (12wpi):

And then the leftovers n-plied with both the remaining bobbins held together. 5.6g of light worsted (10wpi):

Then there was one... 2.1g of n-plied mystery fibre in a light fingering weight yarn (15 wpi):

45 yards

I've finished spinning and plying the merino/silk sample from Colourful Designs:

A quick count suggests there might be just short of 45 yards in this skein... so what to do with it? It's not been washed yet so I'm unsure about wraps-per-inch but I suspect it will come out as a light fingering weight.

Ideas?

Soothed

Last night I sat down after dinner for a little bit of time at the wheel:

This is a Fibreholics sample (20g). 70% Merino, 30% Mulberry Silk Top from Colourful Designs in colourway Sweet Peas.

Tonight I hope to finish off the spinning and chain ply it. I've no idea what it's going to be but I quite fancy knitting with it this weekend...

In the Spinning Pool

Last week was Freshers Week (or Intro Week if you like to use its posh, non-exclusive name): during this Week annually it seems that, on a University campus, anything goes.

For this reason, I brought my spinning wheel onto campus.

Despite the fact that I do really enjoy spinning (and I really like how productive spinning on the wheel feels), I could probably use my fingers to count how many times I've really sat down and spun since I bought the wheel last year. This is in no way a positive admission - it's pretty depressingly terrible. The primary excuse is to do with the quantity of time I actually spend in my house awake and not cooking, cleaning or tidying - it's a small amount, but perhaps not as small as I think.

Solution: spin somewhere that isn't at home.

And here's the result:

Almost three bobbins of bluey-green merino. I love the way the colour has worked out - the yarn itself will be heavier than originally intended and its closer to overspun than underspun (this is highly unusual for me but I just couldn't get this merino to slip though my fingers the way I was expecting).

Not too shabby at all - fingers crossed I'll finish it off and ply it later in the week.

Day 1: A Tale of Two Yarns

Inspired by...


Day 1: Part of any fibre enthusiast’s hobby is an appreciation of yarn. Choose two yarns that you have either used, are in your stash or which you yearn after and capture what it is you love or loathe about them.

I have many yarn-related thoughts, but today I thought I'd use this as a great opportunity to finally post some of my handspun efforts. Back in November I posted about my first ever wheel spun yarn, and then... it all went very quiet. It seems that despite a wheel, and the workshop, I was left wondering whether I actually had a clue what I was doing and how to get what I wanted from my wheel (and even what I should want, what was I supposed to do next?). I did spin up one mini-skein (~30g) of chunky 3ply yarn using some of the blue fibre originally bought for spindle spinning (not just good intentions, some of it did get spindle spun). I then started on a full 100g braid of 'British Wool' in a colour that looked great as fibre and as singles, but when I finally started to ply it (again 3ply) the colours mingled in a less-than-attractive manner (pictures omitted, potentially with good reason).

So what's changed? And where's the yarn porn photography?

First, the photos:

• On the right, some undyed Bluefaced Leicester spun one Sunday and Navajo/chain plied the following Sunday. There's about 27g of this in total and about 92 yards. It's not totally consistent, and the chain plying emphasises the unevenness of the singles, but both mini-skeins come out at approximately 20 wpi (laceweight)
• On the left, some Shetland spun in the week following the BFL plying Sunday and plied with a strand of red laceweight strung with a selection of colourful wooden beads. This yarn is not beautiful (or at least not particularly well colour-coordinated) but it does demonstrate the technique. There's around 19g/33 yards at approximately 9 wpi (worsted) and the rest of the singles (spun from a 20g Fibreholics sample supplied by KnitCave) are still sat on my bobbins waiting to be something.

What changed? I took three fantastic classes at Purl City Yarns in Manchester. The classes, with Vikki Harding of Wildfire Fibres, covered:

1. Generally becoming more familiar with your wheel (I finally started to get to grips with how to fiddle with things to get the yarn I'd like)
2. chain plying
3. art yarns (core spinning, carding exciting-looking batts, and beaded yarns)

The classes were exactly what I needed to build confidence with my wheel and inspire me to create some great yarns from my increasing fibre stash.

PS - Just for completion, this was the output of the core spinning:

Around 32g/38 yards of (overspun) 'art yarn'. Thick 'n' thin, but around 10 wpi (light worsted).

With thanks to Eskimimi for hosting :) View other posts for day 1 here. Todays tag: 2KCBWDAY1

FO: A Wee Bag

On Thursday lunchtimes a small group (read 'very small') of folks at the University meet to knit (most often)/crochet/spin, eat lunch, and chat. This Thursday, as I pulled my intended knitting (the second of the October colourwork socks) out of my bag, I realised I'd forgotten the pattern. Since the pattern starts with a non-standard toe, I clearly wasn't going to be working on that. Instead, I pulled out the tiny bit of spindle spun yarn I plied last month and a 4.5mm circular needle and started casting on some stitches. After a quick discussion with Calephetos I settled on the ubiquitous little drawstring bag, as inspired by Mooncalf and Eskimimi.

My yarn was approximately a worsted weight so I cast on just 28 stitches (I did try 40 but it looked suspiciously like it was trying to be a hat). By the end of lunchtime, I was quickly starting to look short on yarn so it wasn't long before I had "Saffie's A Wee Little Bag":

Here's what I did (approximately):

CO 28 stitches.
R1-4: Knit 4 rows of Stockinette in the flat.
R5: K2, twist the left needle 360^o (forward, under the work, and then back to the start), *K4, twist*, repeat starred section 5 more times, K2.

R6-8: Join in the round. Knit 3 rounds of Stockinette.

R9: *K2tog, yo*. Repeat starred section to end of round.

Continue in Stockinette until desired length. Join using three needle bind off.

Cute :)

PS - I'm not totally sure what to use this for. It could be a lavender bag (I do love lavender) but it also reminds me of those little bags worry dolls come in - not sure what I do with that thought though...

Spin-ach!

A few posts ago, I made a passing reference to my attendance at a handspun spinning workshop with the intention of dedicating a proper post to my adventures later on. It seems some time has passed, and some not-unrelated bits and bobs are wanting to make their way into the blog, so here goes...

8th October
My somewhat-disappointing birthday has just passed and I am wondering how to treat myself. I've been toying with trying wheel spinning (yarn not exercise) for a while so I meander through the Web looking vaguely for some sort of class or workshop. Having found a few options at both extremes of the UK (if only I leaved in Fife), I finally stumble across handspun and send an email to enquire.

11th October
A few emails go back and forth - I book myself in for the 30th of October (my next free weekend) and try not to get too excited.

30th October
Up before 7am to walk to the railway station. Despite catching the wrong train and forgetting to bring Gwenda's mobile number (and a set of knitting needles for my train project), I find my way OK and am collected from the station. It's just me for this workshop and we immediately start with the wheel - trying a bit of treddle-ing without anything else, before moving on to feed some yarn through to get hands and feet working together. It's all feeling a bit clumsy but we move on to getting started with some unwashed fleece nonetheless... all of a sudden hands and feet come together and I'm actually producing something that looks kind of OK. I seem to have a tendency for spinning thinly and I go through a period of constant breaks until I can keep up with myself. Love it!

Break for a yummy lunch - mushroom soup, baked potato and salad.

Back to the wheel to spin a tiny bit more. I'd moved onto a second bobbin before lunch so there's just a bit more spinning to do to get it looking about the same as the first one, then... plying! Skein the finished yarn and put it aside ready for a bath when it gets home. Next step is to go back to the start and look at preparing fibres. Spent a bit of quiet time teasing the fibre before Gwenda got out the carders and showed me how to card the fibre and form a rolag - do one more before... all done. :( Time to go home and wash that yarn!

And here it is...

It's unevenly spun but it's mine! I feel a wheel coming on

(I may have resolved this already - you'll just have to wait and see...)

Intrique...

Spotted this in a thread on the Ravelry forums, it's sort of neat, but... doesn't the yarn get dirty? Or are everyone else's floors cleaner than ours?

A Thief in the Night

It was a busy week last week. In the strange world of academia deadlines are prophesied as long-distant events that will one-day come to pass. And so they stay, forever in the future, until... like a thief in the night the long-foreseen deadline is suddenly upon you and people are finally prepared to dedicate some moments of their precious time to writing a few words for that paper you hope to submit later in the week. *sigh*

Still, I've survived and I think I must now have caught up on the majority of sleep lost during those stressful evenings of no knitting and a lot of typing. And, thanks to Saturday's KnitCafe, I almost feel like I might have caught up with some of the knitting too....

1) The September Socks are all done bar the sewn bind off. They need a bit of blocking really to smooth out the tension down the sides a bit and I'm somewhat less excited about them than I was when I started them. I'm not sure what's changed, but they just don't quite sing for me the way I thought they might.

2) I have my first bit of potentially actually usable handspun. Just 15m of the stuff, but it's much more even than the previous attempts and I think it's also pretty balanced. Very, very happy with this.

This had spent a long time sat on the spindle waiting to be plied but I just never got around to it until I found this post on What I've Learned Along the Way. Really impressed with the effort gone to here in order to produce a really nice summary of all sorts of spindle spinning bits and bobs. Anyway, I watched the Andean Plying video by theartofmegan and, right then and there, decided it was time to ply.

My plan for this wee bit of yarn is to craft myself a wee lavender bag as stolen from Eskimimi who in turn stole it from Mooncalf (both very lovely blogs). I've got a big bag of lavender in my sewing pile so it sounds like the perfect combination.

3) My 'Summer Scarf', the Lace Ribbon Scarf from knitty is blocked. It's way too long I think, so I need to try it on and see if I want to rip some of it out or not. Also, it's wider at one end than the other (about 1.5" wider) - I guess it was worked over that period where my gauge was changing quite dramatically. Still, noone will know, and perhaps the flaws mean I shall have to keep it after all...

Perhaps I will finish some projects soon, it seems I have not yet learned the lesson about how increasing the number of things started has an impact on the size of the finishing pile :)