Knitting!

Yes, despite all the talk about spinning, I have been knitting away in the background too.

Perhaps not quite as often as I should have been to get this finished for the honeymoon, but still knitting. In fact now that I’ve accepted that it probably will not be ready for then, it seems to be trucking along nicely! Ironic, but probably it will still not be ready in time.

I have decided I am not going to knit the hood on the Après Tricot sweater. I may yet change my mind, but I’m not sure that I will have a use for the hood, but I can see myself wearing a lightweight lacy top with a nice stockinette v-neck.



I have been modifying the pattern, because I didn’t want seams in this nice thin 4ply sweater. I therefore decided to knit it in the round as much as I could. I’ve had to leave stockinette panels down the side for increasing and decreasing, but I think it looks fine.



I’ve also done 4 rows of garter stitch prior to commencing the stockinette edge, to try to prevent rolling. It’s not working so well at the moment, but I think that perhaps when it’s blocked it may help. If not, I could fold the garter edge under and sew it in place, but that might be rather bulky. I may have to try steam blocking the edge while I knit the sleeves.



The lace pattern, now that I’m using markers, is nice to work, and I’m looking forwards to getting to that part of the sleeves! I have some free time this weekend during which I hope to get some knitting and some spinning done.



I guess even if this isn’t ready for the honeymoon, it will be a lovely sweater and I look forward to wearing it!

More yarn spun!

I continue to spend more time than I aught on the spinning wheel. Though I have been good, and since this came off the wheel I haven't spun anything new until last night when I started on a fractal experiment.

The shiny white bits are the bamboo where the colour didn't take. It has a lovely sheen to it!

Anyway, this has been finished for a while, but it seems I forgot to photograph it until this weekend.

I love the light-and-shade effect the yarn has in this photo

Fiber: Bonkers Fibre – Flamingo (NB: they’re American)
Ply Type: Navajo; Z Spun S plied.
Yarn created: 205yds approx DK weight yarn.

I think it looks great! I’m looking forward to knitting it up into something. I think 205 yards might be enough for a little shrug (like this one I knit a while ago using less than 185 yards of aran weight).

Pretty, isn't it?

Also, it should self-stripe, which I’m quite excited about, some of the darker stripes (purple-black ish bits) could be long enough to go all the way round a shrug!

I need another project to take with me on honeymoon[1] as I’m a great believer in Sod’s Law[2] so this might be it.

The math-science geek in me wants to work out approximately how long it takes me to knit stuff, and then work out how many hours worth of knitting I have planned, and then see how much actual knitting/crochet time I have available, and then add socks. Always.

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[1] Yes, I’m taking knitting with me on honeymoon.
[2] Sod’s Law is that if you plan for something then it will not happen, but if you don’t plan for it then it will. Such as if you put your umbrella in your bag (taking up vital space for other stuff) then it will not rain, but if you decide that you need the space for something else, it almost certainly will. This same Law appears to mean that if you don’t pack a sweater for your holiday to somewhere hot, it will be cold. Remember this holiday?

Just 20g

A story of 20g of fibre and the dream of making it into something useful.

First, I’ll declare my interest. My Heart Exposed (link to the folksy store, Helen’s blog) are having a contest to celebrate being one year old. Happy first birthday MHE!

Well, I’m a little later than that to the party. I only recently got my spinning wheel, so I hadn’t really looked into fibre much.
The week before the wheel, I ordered a sample pack from Fibreholics to have a look at what some local (UK based) indie dyers were doing with fibre. One of the samples was a 20g braid of MHE Corriedale fibre. Now, I’d been battling with some factory produced Corriedale at this point, and though it washed up into a nice yarn it wasn’t that nice to work with. So, I confess I was a little wary of the MHE Corriedale. I expected it to be like the Corriedale I had so far used.

How wrong I was!

Helen uses rainwater in her dying process, and only 100% natural dyes. Despite this, she gets amazing colours, such as the beautiful lavender and gold in this braid. (These photos are a little darker than in reality, the yarn (later in the post) is a much truer colour!)

An array of different colours that all work so well together!

The fibre was lovely and fluffy, clearly treated with care during the dying process, and much less harsh on my hands than the commercially dyed top I had been using. 20g was enough to produce a lovely 36 yards of 3ply yarn, at around Sock weight (15wpi) (I Navajo plied to maintain the colour repeats, I didn't want to blend the lovely lavender and the gold into one muddy colour!)

I did consider putting it in a box frame on the wall!

Then came the challenge – what could I knit that would effectively show of these lovely colours, the striping and yet would only need 36 yards of yarn?
A few simple ideas spring to mind – crocheted flowers, a small toy, coasters and cup-clutches. All small and some useful, but not really what I was looking for.

Wound into a ball and ready to go!

Once I had measured the wpi I knew all the details I needed to search on Ravelry for an appropriate item to knit. There were lots of ideas, but the Flourish Bookmark from Ninaclock designs stood out as a great idea! It specifies slightly more yarn than I have, but I can make a smaller tassel. I love to read, I'm always in need of a bookmark! I use whatever I can lay my hands on, so a lovely little knitted reminder of this lovely yarn seems like a great idea (and might be the way some of the other samples go too!)

I can't say in words what these lovely photos show for the bookmark... so here it is.

Self Striping Bookmark

Pattern: Flourish by Ninaclock designs
Yarn: Handspun MHE Corriedale
Needles: 3.25mm
Modifications: Only did 3 repeats because of using the lager needles
Verdict: The pattern is great,the fibre is great, and the yarn is nice - I'm so pleased with it!

Something pretty

In case my experiment didn't interest you, I thought I'd share some pretty pictures of my latest spinning escapades.

First, I'll start with the burgundy Corriedale from the experiment. I confess, I didn’t really enjoy spinning it – this Corriedale was rather rough and a bit matted (probably partly my fault for storing it as I did)

Despite not liking it; the experiment being of interest, I spun it reasonably quickly. Here are the results:

43g / 72yd (100g/167yd), Z spun, S 2-plied, approx DK/Sport, quite heavy.



See the white ties - that's how I know it's the 43g skein.



50g / 96yd (100g/192yd), Z spun, S 2-plied, approx DK/Sport, still reasonably heavy.

This one has blue ties, for the 50g second skein!

After that, I decided I’d quite like a change. Since I hadn’t spun any of the samples from the Fibreholics pack I ordered before I got my wheel, I thought I’d give some of that a go. I had a bit of a rummage and found that Laal Bear had sent me some Blue Faced Leicester, which I fancied having a go with. I wasn’t enamoured with the colour of the fibre, but I thought for 20g I could put that behind me. I spent some time fluffing and pre-drafting it – after all, my experiment suggests that will produce longer yarn, which is good.

So, from fibre…

I've tweaked the colours in this picture, but the fluff is about the right blue

…to yarn:

20g / 64yd (100g/320yd), Z spun, S Andean-plied, approx 4ply

The two colours in the plying give it a nice depth that the fibre alone didn't have, much improved!

The resulting yarn is actually a rather nice colour; I just need to decide what to do with it! If anyone has any ideas for 64yds of blue heavy 4ply yarn do shout up!

Finally, I decided to move on to another sample, I was drawn back to the My Heart Exposed braid, and even though it was Corriedale (which had fallen out of favour with me) I decided to go for it.

Pretty but not so bold as I usually go for!

This Corriedale was nicer than the previous stuff, whether it was because of different storage or just that the dyes that MHE use are that much gentler on the fibre I don’t know. I quite enjoyed spinning it! Well, when it was on the bobbin (bad spinner didn’t take any photos at this stage) it looked really pretty and I couldn’t bear the thought of plying it with itself and muddying the lovely colours. I did a Google search for Navajo plying (also known as N-ply or chain-ply) and decided to have a go. The benefit of N-ply is that it allows you to keep the colour sequence of a yarn, to create a self-stripe (or variegated) rather than heather or barber-pole yarn. I’m pretty pleased with the result, but because N-plying provides a 3-ply thickness to the yarn, I got a rather short length out of it!

20g / 36yd (100g/180yd), Z spun, S Navajo-plied, approx heavy 4ply

The texture of the Navajo ply is so finished looking!

and because I like it so, here’s another shot of the MHE:

The pinks, greens and golds all get to shine individually!

I’ve already got some more fibre on the wheel, I’m working on some Bonkers Fibre, it’s a merino / bamboo blend, which is rather slippery! It’s a pretty colour though, called Flamingo. I’m likely to finish that before I have any finished knitting to show – although I might consider showing off my WIP at some point.

Experimental

Does the amount of air added to fibre make the resulting yarn less dense?

Abstract

An experiment to show that fibre preparation prior to spinning helps to produce a longer yarn without detriment to the thickness of the yarn; only the density is altered.

Purpose

The aim of this experiment is to discover whether the amount of air one adds to the fibre prior to spinning (by stripping, fluffing and pre-drafting) changes the resulting yarn, providing a less dense, longer strand of yarn than when the fibre does not have air added. Should this prove to be true, it will enable me to work towards spinning enough yarn from 100g of fibre for a three-ply to make a pair of socks.

Hypothesis

The more air that is added during the spinning process, the less dense the resulting yarn will be and therefore the resulting piece of yarn will also be longer.

Materials

Fibre: 100g of Corriedale Fibre (colour: Burgundy) split into two 50g strands
Spinning Wheel: Ashford Traveller

Procedure

Split the 100g of fibre in half lengthwise to produce two 50g strands.
Split the 50g of fibre in half lengthwise.

First 50g
Spin directly from the strips of fibre, drafting while spinning.

Second 50g
Separate the fibre width wise to produce a wide fluffy strand
Elongate the fibre lengthwise (pre-draft) to produce a long fluffy strand which is virtually see-through.
Spin from this pre-drafted fibre, still drafting while spinning.

For both cases
Spin direction: Z
Ply type: Andean
Ply direction: S
Using the niddy-noddy wind the yarn off the bobbin and into a skein.
Count the number of wraps of the niddy-noddy. This number should be multiplied by 4 to provide the number of feet of yarn produced, which should be divided by 3 to provide the number of yards produced.
Tie, wash and whack the yarn to even and set the twist.
Measure the wpi of the yarn.

Results

	First 50g	Second 50g
Yarn Thickness	DK/Sport	DK/Sport
Yarn Weight (g)	43	50
Yarn Length (yards)	72	96
Calculated Length per 100g	167	192

Final result: Second 50g is 115% length of the first 50g, so the length has been increased by more pre-drafting.

Conclusions

The length of yarn spun from a given amount of fibre can affect the length of the final result.

I was expecting a more dramatic difference between the two fibres than was achieved, but this smaller difference may be due to my spinning style varying between the two, and how quickly I was spinning. Spinning faster may cause less drafting, which could also result in a more dense yarn.

I don't think I can stop...

We went cycling today for the first time in over a year. That was not a good plan, especially since I'm still recovering from a cold. Managed about 3 miles though, which is better than nothing. Celebrated with a glass of summer fruit squash.

In other news... Well, it's not news is it? I've been spinning again. I've finally plucked up the courage to spin something which isn't a plain colour. I still haven't done anything with the alpaca singles, but that will be dealt with.

So, back when I learnt to spin on a spindle, I bought some lovely fibre. I then put that fibre in a box in my craft room, the box stayed there before moving briefly to a friend's house while we moved, and then it moved back in with me. At last, I bought a spinning wheel, and the fibre could meet its destiny of becoming yarn.

So, the fibre (see previous post, I have no new pictures of the fibre itself) was spun over the course of a couple of evenings. I spun it pretty fine, I thought. I haven't measured the wpi (that's wraps per inch for the uninitiated) yet, but by length-to-weight ratio, it's around worsted weight again. I would have liked slightly finer.

First I spun two singles, I was hoping they'd be the same length as teach other, but it wasn't to be.

The colours look great, don't they?
Next, I plied the two singles with each other (and Andean plied the remainder with itself) to produce some pretty yarn.

which wound into a very pretty skein too.

 

Overall, even if it is thicker than I planned, I'm pretty pleased with this. I think it might be enough for a cowl or a hat of some sort, especially if it's lacy. However, before I jump in on that I need to measure the actual wpi of the yarn - to see whether it's different to what the average weight calculation I've done suggests. If it is, I might have to consider a different method, like actually measuring the wpi!

I'm back to the Corriedale now, but it feels rough compared to the Merino I have just spun. I have one more ball of Corriedale after this, but I do not love the colour at the moment, and I want to enjoy the spinning. So, much like with knitting I believe that even at the beginning you'll get further using the nice stuff. After all, I'm not going to knit with something that's rough either.

{edit}
So I measured the wpi and it comes out at about 12 - or "sport" weight - somewhere between DK and 4ply. How odd.

Yes, more spinning.

(and more to come too)

This began life as some undyed alpaca from a swap.

I dyed it up using some natural dyes to produce this less-bold-than-I’m-used-to fibre.

Naturally Dyed by Me!

and then it sat there, waiting for me to decide to spin it on my spindle.

Well, that day never came, but I’m so enthusiastic with my wheel that I ended up spinning it on that instead. Now I just have to decide what to do with it.

Singles on the bobbin

At the moment it’s 50g (I think) of singles. It’s pretty thick, for a singles, though it’s thinner in places. One option that’s been suggested on Ravelry is that I might ply it with some silk/cotton thread. This would give the yarn some strength while still retaining the fluffy soft nature of the alpaca. Then I’d be able to knit something with it.

While I decide, I’ve gone back to the fibre bin and picked out some more pretty fluff to play with. I’ve finally gone away from the plain colours and picked out this

sorry; this picture is tragically awful, I hope my photography skills where fibre is concerned have improved.

It’s spinning up quite prettily. I’ve split the whole thing in to four pieces lengthways and I’m spinning that into two singles. I’ll ply them together and hopefully the colour repeats will approximately match. I expect some barber pole effects in places.

Of course, all this spinning is still detracting from my knitting. Though that said, I’ve not had the concentration to do the lace on the hoody so it may be for the best.

Yes, more spinning...

I’m not sure what’s more worrying, the amount of time I spend spinning, or the amount of time I spend when I’m not spinning thinking about spinning.

I know, it’s the same with any new toy – it consumes me for a little while and then I settle back into a normal routine.

I’ve had to self-impose a rule though; I’m knitting for the same number of hours as I’m spinning, approximately. Yesterday that was enough knitting time to do a few rows on the hoodie. I love the lace pattern now, it looks great! I’ve got into the swing of it now too. I do hope that it doesn’t grow too much when I block it, as it’s looking about the right size pre-blocking. Though also, I was making a smaller size than I thought strictly necessary, and it will need some under garment, being lacy.

All the spinning time seems to be paying off though. I’ve made some quite nice yarn now! I spent some time washing and drying the red and yellow yarn, I hope to turn it into a hat. There’s a nice basic roll-brim hat pattern in my “Spin to Knit” book which fits the bill nicely. I reckon I’ll begin with the yellow as it’s a bit more robust, then stripe in the red in some sort of sequence.

Here’s my latest offering:

P&M Corriedale in green

It’s about 155yds and 96g. I looked up a random DK, a random Aran and a random worsted weight yarn on Rav, and decided that this makes it somewhere between worsted and aran weight. So I’m thinking about knitting fetching in it, which claims to need between 100 and 200 yards of yarn. I guess the question is what happens if I run out?

Much finer than the red and yellow!

I have made fetching before, using about 130 yards. Fingers crossed! Though I did modify those, I think in the end I made them bigger. I hope that the yarn will hold up to that pattern, and hopefully the cables will look great in a plain (rather than stripey or varigated) colour. We will see!

Addictive?

So, I’ve been doing some more spinning! (and not a lot of knitting, or anything else!) I’m starting to enjoy it – I can get into that great quiet zone where there’s nothing but me, the sound of the wheel whizzing and the yarn being created.
It is making my hands rather dry, which I heard was a side effect.

Second attempt at plied yarn - not bad

This one is about 62 yards (I counted 47 wraps around my 12 inch niddy noddy) and weighs 86g (there’s a little more on the bobbin because I couldn’t quite fit it all on the one bobbin – though I tried!) The jumbo flyer sounds like a fun idea; I assume that you can get more yarn on with that!

I’m going to have a rainbow of yarn! I think, now that I’m moving on to the green Corriedale, which I might consider trying to spin a little finer. Both the yarns I’ve created are on the chunky side.

Fluff due to become yarn

I am not sure what I might want to knit with some aran/dk weight green Corriedale yarn, but that is my aim. If I can keep going at that rate of improvement (I think the red might even be super-bulky, the yellow/gold is certainly bulky, so if the green is aran, then the purple could be DK and I might manage the burgundy at sock-weight!) then I will be pleased.

I really must do some knitting too.
I’m almost at the point of shaping the bust on my Après Surf hoodie.

You Spin Me Right Round, Baby, Right Round!

As you might imagine, I was excited to collect my spinning wheel on Sunday. We met the seller at the Hartshead Moor services on the M62 – about an hour from my house.
After we dropped off another wheel for another knitter, we headed directly home so that I could get set up and spinning!

Ashford Traveller, rather nice!

After a short while, I was merrily spinning!

I must sit up straight - that explains why my back aches

Despite creating some waste from my practice…

A bit of a mess...

I managed to create 80g of this chunky-ish yarn-like stuff.

"Yarn"!

looking back, it’s not that much worse than my first spindle spun yarn, so I have hope!

My first spindle spun yarn, also very thick and thin, and a lot less of it! (about 15g)

I’ve started on some yellow fluff now; I had a total of five plain coloured Corriedale tops to begin on. I’m thinking about spinning a bobbin each of the yellow and green and then plying them together.

I’m enjoying my wheel, and I’m looking forward to the experimentation that I plan to do. However, since I spun about 100g of fibre in about 3 hours (I don’t know if that’s fast or not, but I’m not worried about that) then I reckon I might need to buy more fibre!
Ok, maybe I’ll use what I have first.
Maybe.

Things I did last night

1. Eat - done! We had a lovely spaghetti bolognaise, and I also made a garlic-mussel-pasta for lunch today.
2. Build Shelf - done! Though I had to enlist my fiancé’s help – it was a 2 person job.
3. Make Invitations – done! Though FH made most of them, I just helped with the last bit of sticking.
4. Clean up – done! Well, mostly.
5. Reorganise craft items – done! I now know where everything is, and what’s what. My yarn stash is nicely organised into my three-drawer chest, my fabric is in boxes under the desk, my spinning stuff is now available including a nice tidy box downstairs, and the books are shelved!

So, I thought that as part of this process it might be fun to flash my stash! I’ve put the partial balls and items to be frogged in a separate location, they will return to the stash when they have been dealt with. What you see here is everything else. The far left is laceweight, then sock / 4ply, then DK, then Aran, then a bit of chunky on the far right.

 

My Stash in all its glory!

 

I think it’s a good idea to get all the stash out every once in a while. It has several benefits. One of them is that you can check for nasties – things that you wouldn’t want to find lurking in your yarn, but that would like to be lurking in your yarn given the chance. You can see that all the yarn shown here is in plastic freezer bags. I know these aren’t 100% moth proof (or airtight) but they do make it hard for moth larvae migration, reducing the chances of losing everything.

 

Another good reason for getting out the stash like this is to prevent you from forgetting what you have! I have quite a lot of yarn (though by some comparisons it’s a small stash!) and I have been known to buy yarn for a project which I already had yarn for, or not to buy bargain yarn because I thought I already had some yarn of that sort. Always check!

 

I’ve put the chunky and aran/worsted yarn in the bottom of the chest, the DK and Lace in the middle drawer, and the sock/4ply has a drawer all to itself.

 

I’m pretty pleased with the new shelf too. As predicted it is a different colour, and it’s also a different size! However, the new boxes fit on the shelves, and I’ve been able to fit all my craft books, all the DIY books and all the fitness books onto the shelves, as well as a whole bunch of now-tidy craft stuff!

 

Nice and Tidy

 

 

 

 

Things I intend to do tonight

Isn’t it always handy to have a checklist? And I do like lists…

1. Eat
2. Build Shelf
3. Make Invitations
4. Clean up
5. Reorganise craft items

I actually started with an 18 item list, but I realised that wasn’t very interesting, so I’ve kept that separate and I’ll use that for myself!

 

I’ve bought a new shelf for the craft room. It’s the same as the shelf I already own (and although I bought the same colour, I bet it isn’t) which I use to store my craft books and some crafty items like cardstock. It’s been a very useful shelf, and surprisingly sturdy for a cheap shelf.

 

This desire to tidy up is in part driven by the prospect of the spinning wheel. While the wheel itself will probably be downstairs (certainly while I’m using it) I can’t take over the whole house with the fluff that goes with it! (Well…)

 

I’m hopeful that the lovely fibre I bought earlier in the week will have arrived at my house today. I’m torn between the desire to practice spinning and not “waste” nice fibre and the desire to produce something I could use to make something. In any case, the fibre needs a home while I’m spinning the other fibre (or knitting, crocheting, dying, sewing…)

 

Also, I want to find the books on spinning that I have already bought, so that I can be prepared when I settle in with the wheel at home.

 

I might take the opportunity to flash my stash, and my craft room – though I suspect that the camera might be flat!

Whoops!

I have agreed to buy a spinning wheel.


Perhaps I should start at the beginning?

Back in December I was able to visit the Cottenham Spinners to talk to some of the folks there about their wheels. I got some nice advice and even got to have a go on a couple of wheels.
Of all the wheels that I tried in my price range my hands-down favourite was an Ashford Traveller, preferably double treadle.

Since then I have been occasionally looking on ebay, but since we’re getting married in April I was not planning on buying a wheel prior to that. In fact, the plan was for me to save up and buy one at Woolfest when we go.

On Monday we were talking about wheels and such, and the girls at knitting reminded me to check the UK Spinners forum occasionally. So, on Tuesday I thought I’d have a quick look, not expecting to find anything – my ebay searches over the past months have got me nowhere.

Lo, there was an Ashford Traveller on the list.

I thought to myself, it’s probably sold. Still, I talked to my fiancé about it, in case it was still available. He told me to go for it, and I needed no more encouragement!

Well, the wheel was still available, and on Sunday it will be mine.

In the meantime I haven’t been able to resist ordering some lovely fluffy fibre to spin on it when it comes! I’ve not ordered a lot though, and I’ve kept to the stuff which is more suitable for beginners. I do have quite a stash of fibre already, ranging from single colour Corriedale to handpainted bamboo-merino and BFL, and everything in between. I even have some of my own hand-dyed alpaca roving to have a go with. (It is only 50g though, I’m not sure what I’ll be able to make out of that, even spun really fine!)

I’m currently planning to sort out my craft room. I know, I only moved in September, how bad can it be, right?
Wrong.
It’s been a bit of a dumping ground, there is an air bed in there and some other crud. The place is awash with card-making supplies from making all of the invitations (and I still have a couple more to make) and I don’t really have enough places to put my card making things now. There’s a big bag of yarn (I was looking for all my pink yarn, turns out there’s a lot of it!) and several boxes and bags of yarn, fibre and stuff that need to be properly sorted out.

Basically, the things I should have done when we moved in? Doing them now.

I reckon I should be able to sort it in one evening. This evening we’re going to look at some frames (wedding related) and I’ll probably try to convince the fiancé that some more storage for stuff would be useful. I could really use another bookshelf actually, maybe I should be on the look out for that. If Ikea wasn’t such a time-suck I’d consider going there after I collect my wheel, but I really want to start using it (Sunday afternoon is already planned for spinning) so it might have to be an Argos special!

Lacking in Inspiration for a title

Well, I’m continuing to be rather busy!

I’ve been for my first dress fitting. There is a photo but I’m afraid that’s secret for now. The dress is amazing, I really do like it, and it feels very me. It’s not a fussy design, nor is it bling or lacy, it is beautiful material put together carefully with a funky twist.

I’m having a reasonable amount of success with losing weight too – not losing masses but then I don’t want to end up looking emaciated! (I know, I’m a way from that!)

And knitting; I’m still knitting the Après Surf hoodie. It’s going pretty well, I have to wind a new skein into a ball soon, and I’ll soon be in a position to start the bust increases. I had a bit of a ‘mare with the lace to begin with and I had to frog back to the stocking stitch section, but it’s going more smoothly now – I’ve used some waste yarn as stitch markers and marked every repeat.

I’m picking a crochet pattern for on the plane!
Why crochet?
Of course, knitting on an aeroplane is still forbidden. I believe that the UK has a blanket ban on knitting needles to make it easier for the security staff. After all, most non-knitters don’t realise that there are so many different types of knitting needle, in so many different thicknesses, lengths and straight/double pointed/circular. I agree that a 12 inch long metal 4.5mm (UK no 7) needle could “have someone’s eye out” or worse, that a strong 24 inch circular could be used as a garrotte or that 2.5mm wooden dpns could, er, give you a nasty splinter?
Anyway, crochet hooks are allowed (as long as they are not too big, and not made of metal), so I’ve decided that I’m going to crochet a shawl on the plane. The shawl I’ve currently got at the top of my list is called “Elise Shawl” by Evan Plevinski. It seems to be a shell-pattern type shawl, so I’m hopeful I’ll be adequate enough to make it. I will have to hunt down some non-metal hooks though. I have a full set, but they’re all nice shiny metal. I do have some others in wood and plastic, so I should be fine.
Why a shawl?
The benefit of this particular shawl is that it requires 400yds of 4ply / sock yarn. I have several[1] skeins of sock yarn available for the purpose. This means that one 100g ball of yarn should be enough to keep me entertained on the plane(s) for a good long time. And at the airport(s) too.

I will also be taking some knitting with me, more for the Maldives than for Sri Lanka. I’m hopeful that I’ll be busy enough in Sri Lanka with the touring and such! But it will be nice to have a sock available for those quiet moments. Just a plain vanilla sock. In fact, I’m going to take a leaf out of the Yarn Harlot’s book blog, and knit them as tubes with afterthought heels! In case I’m knitting while doing something interestingish.



[1] Ok, I admit it, I have more than several. I actually have several skeins of sock yarn with enough yardage and in suitable colours!

Busy?

I might not be blogging much but that's because I'm so busy!

Things I've been doing recently include:

• Makeup test runs for the wedding. I try to do one of these each weekend with a different combination of foundation, highlighter, mascara etc. So far it looks like my new Rimmel foundation is winning - no flakes, no grease and lasted well the day I wore it. Anyway, I've been taking photos of each trial so that I can compare, contrast and hopefully recreate the best bits.
• Ordering more shoes! haha. Nice flat flip-flops for late in the evening when my feet hurt. I'd like to say that my wedding shoes are so comfortable that I will not need to change, but there are only so many hours that you can wear 5 inch heels, and I suspect that 10 hours might be pushing it! My flip flops are also turquoise so that's great - and what an excuse for another funky pair of shoes!
• Invitations for both the main event and the evening. I've made my own. I love them. They reflect us and the venue really well.
• Dieting! Check out my progress on my diet blog here.
• Knitting (but not a lot)

I've started knitting the Apres Surf Hoodie that I've been meaning to knit for a very long time. I hope that I can have it done by the time we go on honeymoon. It will be nice and light for chilly evenings (or being up mountains!). If I don't manage it then I'll have other sweaters I can take, and I'll take some shawls with me too because they're so versatile. That will include my wedding shawl, which is more of a shawlette, but will be lovely!

But back to the Apres Surf Hoodie.
I had knitted almost a full repeat of the lace pattern, but it all went horribly wrong. I don't know what exactly I did, but there was a mess that I couldn't fix. I did try, but to no avail. So, I've frogged back to the top of the stocking stitch section (only about 8 rows) where I intend to insert a lifeline, use lots of markers, and maybe take some post-its home for the chart. (I wish I knew where my magnetic chart holder went! I last used it on a shawl...)

Recently I did complete a lovely chunky shrug...

Ribbon Shrug by Louisa Harding knitted in Rowan RYC Cashsoft Chunky

Pattern: Ribbon by Louisa Harding

Yarn: Rowan RYC Cashsoft Chunky 8.5 balls of "Merlot"
Needles: 6mm and 6.5mm straights
Modifications: the 6.5mm straights should have been 7mm but I didn't have any, otherwise none.
Verdict: The pattern is great, easy enough to knit the lace and cables but not dull. If I were to make it again I would probably knit longer sleeves, or perhaps the short sleeve version. I fancy trying it in a lighter weight yarn too. I'd also recommend using circulars rather than straights, too many stitches on one needle!

99

It's 99 days until I get married!

Good to be back?

Yes, it's another New Year!
One I have high hopes for, I must say.

The blog, well - I'm trying to keep it up, but given how busy a year it's shaping up to be, I promise nothing.

So, goodbye to 2010, it's been a corker...

I got engaged to my boyfriend of 9 years


I started scrapbooking


Our two hamsters, Rowan and Aran both died :(


We redecorated the old house


I designed some knitted garments


I bought quite a lot of yarn


I also did a fair amount of knitting


And finally we moved into our lovely new home


What does 2011 have in store for me?

Well, there's my own wedding, plus at least two other weddings to attend.
The holiday of a lifetime for our honeymoon. (Excited!)
Chickens, and maybe rabbits.
More yarn, and more knitting, and all being well a spinning wheel.
A gym in the Garage!
Joining Zumba (the first class of the New Year is a week today!)
And a lot of hopes:
I hope that I'll stick to my Slimming World classes, and get a bit more weight shifted.
I hope that I'll be able to move roles at work.
I hope that we will have an excellent year, me and my soon-to-be-husband.

When did that happen?

Folks, it’s only 16 (plus the rest of today) days until Christmas.
Crikey!

And although I have done most of my shopping, there’s a catch. I’ve done it online, and then this slight cold snap that we’ve had appears to have upset the postal system a little bit.

I wouldn’t normally worry about that, but I’m off to my parents’ place at the weekend, at which time I intend to leave all the gifts for my sister and her fiancé, and my parents, with my parents. Clearly I can not do this if said gifts are still sitting in some stranded lorry somewhere. Boo.

Well, I do have some things for each of them so far. I’ve had to return one item already, and so I’ve decided to buy the replacement item in person in an actual shop. I may have to pick up some backup gifts for my sister as 95% of her gift is still in the post.

(Well, I guess there’s a chance that some of it is waiting for me at home, if the post has arrived today.)

Somehow this makes me want to go out and madly buy more stuff! And then I feel a bit materialistic!

I’m only doing a little bit of Christmas knitting. One item is almost finished and will go in the post this weekend all being well. The other is for my fiancé, and he knows he’s getting a knitted thing, but he knows not what. I need to get cracking on that! I feel some in-car knitting will be required (we have a 20-30 minute commute, he drives…)

Well, I’ll cross my fingers about the parcels. They’ll understand if there are more to come! (The other year an item I pre-ordered didn’t arrive until the following February!)

Here’s hoping!

At Last!

Finally, I’ve got round to taking and uploading some photos of what I have been up to in the past month or so!

We’ve been in the new house for about 7 weeks.

The back bedroom, which still needs photographing, has been given a new look with a fresh coat of paint on all the walls. I’m sorry to say we didn’t strip the wallpaper, that will have to wait until we get round to doing it again one day. However, I’ve painted over the floral pattern (I’m sure it’s lovely to some, but to my taste? Not so much) and the places where the previous owners’ cats scratched up the wallpaper. It’s not perfect, but it’s much more “us”. We have a nice new wooden curtain pole which needs to go up, and some rather nice curtains too. The new bed comes a week on Saturday, and once that’s in I’ll share photos. we must buy a lampshade!

The shed, which also needs photographing, has been given a couple of coats of Cuprinol Ducksback and is now reddish brown rather than grey. I’m pleased with it, and it’s hopefully not going to let water in any more. Though having moved the massive log pile from the side of it and cleared all of the brambles and mud will have helped. (I didn’t do that, Fiancé did.)

Anyway, this is the house.

There are lots of rose bushes in the front garden – they’re still flowering (in November!) but once they’re done flowering I will cut them back hard to try to get them into more even shapes and sizes. They are lovely though, lots of pretty colours!

The big window there in the garage is over a second sink with cupboards and drainer. This will, when I get it tidy and clean (and spider free), be my dying area. I’ll put the steamer out there (there’s power and water!) and the washer and dryer are both there, so I can do felting out there too! I’ll probably see about getting Fiancé to build me a bench to work on too at some point, and we’re going to put more shelves and hooks and a washing line up there too.

At the moment that area is also home to my new wormery.

I love worms. They’re one of the most amazing creatures ever. These worms are specially selected for wormeries. I’ve settled them in with the starter worm bedding, some treats (yes, you can get worm treats, how amazing is that) and some anti-acid pellets (too much acid upsets them!)
Anyway, they’re not trying to escape so I hope that’s a good sign.
We also have two large compost bins. We got the sort with bases because next door tell us that there might be rats (I figure; we’re in the country – there probably are rats, so we’ll try not to attract them)

This morning I saw some sort of hawk in the back garden! It was about the size of a pigeon, but dark brown with almost black wings, head and back. It was beautiful. I didn’t get the camera in time to take a photo I’m afraid.
There’s so much wildlife around here though, it’s fantastic!

I like my new home a lot, and I know I’m going to be happy here

New Sweater

So, After almost 3 years of having the yarn, I’ve finally finished my green sweater! It was originally going to be but I didn’t like the finished item – I think it was the wrong yarn choice, as well as pilot error (PEBNAY – Problem Exists Between Needle and Yarn).

So I decided on a simple raglan cardigan, trying on as I went. And here’s the result:




Before weaving in the ends!


Pattern: My Own Design (I might publish it as I’ve kept notes, but it needs test-knitting first!)
Yarn: Noro Cash Iroha (40% Silk, 30% Wool, 20% Cashmere, 10% Nylon) in Emerald (105)
Needles: 4.5mm circs & dpns
Modifications: N/A
Verdict: The yarn is lush, lovely to knit with. It’s a bit slubby but that adds to the charm I think. The cables pop really nicely in this yarn and colour. I’m quite pleased with it. It’s very warm so I haven’t had chance to wear it.

Almost Settled

So, we're settling in to the new house still.

I love it!

Sunrise over Bugthorpe

The photo is not our garden, I'll show you that some time!

Well, we're in the middle of decorating our main bedroom, the one which has this view. I've put a coat of paint on all the walls now, so they need another coat this week. Then we should be getting the new bed soon too. We've ordered a massive bed - super king size! It's as wide as it is long! The mattress arrived already, and is stored in the garage. (We have a garage!) We've also picked up some bed linens. Curtains are next up - though the windows are big.

Otherwise things are steady here. We're getting used to the house, and the quiet. 

P.S I'll try to remember to take some photos of the needle felting I've been doing, it's great fun!

Apres

 

Apres Surf Hoodie

I've been thinking about making the Apres Surf Hoodie for a long time.

In fact, it's probably since that issue of Interweave Knits came out back in Summer 2008.
I even bought the yarn I needed for it.

Well, today I photocopied the pattern so I could write on it. (Like books, I can't bring myself to actually write in my magazines. It's weird. Most (not all) of my magazines are in as-new condition.)
I've decided to make the 3rd size, which I'm calling "medium" in my head (like, XS, S, M - right?)

It's got a 39.5" bust, assuming I get gauge, so it will have some positive ease (about 1.5") - the next size down is 35.5" and so would have 2.5" negative ease. I hope that this is the right choice. I would want to wear a t-shirt or something under this hoodie as it's lace and thus see-through.
According to the magazine, the one in the picture has "minimal" positive ease and it's the Small.
While that's not so helpful since I don't know the model's measurements, I think it should be okay.
Who knows if I'll even get gauge?

I am considering knitting a gauge swatch.
Despite being a hater of swatching, this is an awful lot of stitches to knit, and frankly I don't like ripping out and reknitting things.

Whether I'll be able to get gauge in the stst and lace sections... well, we'll see!

I can haz teh internetz?

(Sorry for the I can haz cheezburger title; it had to be done)

Yes indeed we're back online, in the new house! Woot!
I really like the new house, which is a surprise to me really because I wasn't sure about it when we initially put the offer in.
Now that we're in, I like almost everything about it. We have a greenhouse (with tomatoes and aubergines left in it, thanks to the previous owner!) and a shed (with power!) along with a lovely garden which with a little TLC, a shovel and some planning should be capable of holding chickens, veggies and maybe a "bee garden" (I like bees)

I'll be back with some photos once we get into some semblance of order, we're still living with rather more boxes than I would like. 

Actually moving

It’s been a while, I know. There’s been no news that hasn’t been too depressing to blog about. However, the move is now happening, we’re actually being packed as I type (how much does that rock?)

We have a bit of recycling to do on the way home, and a little more to put out in the morning, but otherwise we’re all good. The packers have their instructions on what to pack and what not to pack, hopefully they’re not going to accidentally pack things they shouldn’t. I don’t mind so much if they leave unpacked things I’d rather they did pack, that’s easier to solve!

So yeah, we’re moving out to the countryside; I am very excited!

Also, I’ve a hectic schedule for the next month now. So we’re moving house tomorrow, then I’m off to a hen party on Saturday. The following Friday is the wedding (to go with the hen party) followed by a weekend off, then my folks are visiting, then both my bridesmaids and their partners are visiting, and then? Then I think we can relax!

Somewhere in there I need to fit in painting the bedroom, moving all the furniture into the right places, unpacking all the stuff, setting up my new craft room, starting to sort out the garden and planting some stuff (hopefully) and maybe looking into chicken runs, rabbit runs, and the like.

So it’s all good. Or it will be, tomorrow, when we get the keys!