Clapotis (from handspun)

About a year ago, I spun up some gorgeous fibre that my friend Felix gave to me, and then in a last-minute snap-decision, decided to knit it into a Clapotis scarf. (Ostensibly for the Clap-o-tea at Knit Camp, but let's not talk about that...)



I knit two repeats of the increase rows, which was just enough to get me a decent-width scarf. I used 110g of my 115g ball, which was originally around 225 metres. The dropped stitches both allowed the yarn to shine really well, and forced me to have a good look at my uneven spinning. Oops.



But I still like it, and it'll be nice to have another scarf around; I generally hate knitting them, but this one only took four days!

a bit of spinning

Spinning seems to have taken over as my favourite post-dinner television-watching activity, because the wheel is right there, and it doesn't take any thought to get into. I have bee practising various techniques, as I know I can do an effective short draw (worsted spun), but I dislike the rock-solid yarn it produces. I've been practising woollen-spun techniques in two different ways...

First, the longdraw. Having acquired hand carders at the same time as my wheel, I set to carding this luscious pile of fleece into rolags.



That's Jacob fleece (black and white), merino (blue), various purple woollies, and greenishpinkish silk all gifted to me last Christmas (or the Christmas before that??) by my friend Felix.

I spun it long draw as best as I could (still can't do it unsupported, and I think the silk didn't help but it was too pretty to leave out) and got this lovely blue stuff.



225-ish meters and completely uneven. But it was lots of fun to spin!

My other woollen attempt is from 110g of superwash BFL dyed by The Natural Dye Studio.

This one I spun over the fold (sort of - I spread out small bunches and rolled them up, like an uncarded rolag) and really tried for evenness, the result being that it's at least somewhat consistent!


I really love the colour of this, a bright acid green. I think I got about 150 meters of this, and it is soooo squooshily soft, vacillating between DK and worsted weights.

I'm now working on a sock blend (wool and nylon) but forgot to use the macro setting on the camera, so no picture of that, yet. Oops! :)

spinning

After many months of deliberation, I chose a spinning wheel to buy. After many more months, it actually came back into stock again, and I became the proud owner of a Majacraft Susie Pro.



My first project was to spin up this gorgeous Bluefaced Leicester from Krafty Koala, which I've had for almost a year and a half.



I did it in a worsted style short-draw, and it's about worsted weight. I tried for long colour repeats by splitting the top into half lengthwise. I did pretty well keeping the repeats for most of the length.



Almost as soon as it was finished, I knit it up into Headigan. I'm not certain about the buttons, but I've had them forever, and they do match the hat wonderfully.



And a better shot of the short rows and colour repeats.

in a mad spin

The guild of which I am a member (The Oxford Guild of Weavers, Spinners, and Dyers) is running a context, and naturally, I had to enter it. (Longtime readers will remember that the last contest I entered resulted in this.)

The theme of the contest was to create something based on Wordsworth's poem Daffoldils, so I chose to base my work on these lines:

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the Milky Way,

They stretch'd in never-ending line

My never-ending line being handspun yarn!

So I got to work, first dying the wool (using food dyes and tea), felting daffodil heads, and spinning green "stem" yarn.



I then sewed together the trumpets and petals of the daffodils using vintage embroidery thread (that's a whole 'nother post), and plied - three plies of spindle-spun and one of embroidery thread bearing the daffodil heads - four plies altogether.

Here's the result, of which I'm fantastically proud!



And other of it all piled up:

We apologise for the interruption

Oh, so I have been crafting this last month or two, and I've plenty enugh to blog about, but I've also been buying a house and moving into it! It's the ultimate DIY and crafting project! But none of that, yet.

Spinning first.

I borrowed a friend's spinning wheel while she went off on a long holiday to the southern hemisphere, and while I wasn't moving, I came up with some stuff.

First, an attempt at woolen-style spinning, complete with handfashioning "rolags" and such. It came out incredibly squishy, if not actually that even. But who cares? Squishy wins.



It's a 2-ply in Merino which I bought in Seattle, 5 ounces or so. Nice colours mixed into it.



Second, a hand-dyed number. I took Supercook food dye and Lemonade flavour Kool-Aid and a Lot of tea, and dyes 100g of Bluefaced Leicester to look like this.



And then spun it up as a 3-ply.



I'm very happy with both! The first is going to a friend and the second is going to be slippers, I think.

turning through the year

Happpy new year to all the blog readers out there...

I haven't been doing lots of spinning lately, I've been dreaming of getting a spinning wheel, which will have to wait until we've bought a house, which should we any day now...


Anyways, I've been taking this pretty machine-blended merino



and have been turning it into a very fine single.



I'm hoping when it's plied to get a nice heavy laceweight. Eventually. Did I mention I have 200 grams of the stuff, and since I started it on the spindle, it'll end on the spindle too? Expect to see the finished product in about an eon or so.

red sky at night, sailor's delight

I completed these mittens ages ago. Then I lost them, wah! Then I found them, and there was no sunlight. But, I have a light box, and now I can post.

So, I dyed this roving with kool-aid.



And I spun it all on my spindle.



And I used a top-down mittens patterns to knit my mittens. Easy-peasy lemon squeezy!

What I've Been Up To

Not knitting, not much, not really.

I have been doing a rub-off of my favourite dress (which my mum made back in the 80s) so as to make a copy of it:



I got some fabric to make a new dress/copy:



I also got fabric to make a new version of the skirt from last summer:



I have been tearing apart my best-fitting trousers to re-create them:



In this fabric which, from the bolt notes, is a Jaeger remnant:



I made two Wee Bunnies for the school festival's tombola:



I have been spinning, while watching a lot of Big Brother:



I made a lazy kate out of a box and the huge needles I borrowed from Liz to make the bathmat. Hrm, I may have to figure out a different solution of she wants them back. :D



And I plied some of my singles into yarn! Very art-yarn thick and thin etc and no idea what I'm going to do with it, as I'm already spinning more evenly and thinner. Still, nice.



And finally, some knitting - baby socks with the self-striping easter-egg-dye yarn: