Spinning

Thanks for the comments and opinions yesterday - I still haven't decided what I'm going to make, but I think it might have to be Berwick, it just looks so snuggly ;)

Well, although I did finish my Tweedy Cowl, and blocked it, I am currently lacking my photographer who is away with work. So that'll have to wait.

Luckily I do have something finished to show you anyway ;)

I made more yarn *grins* Isn't it lovely?

It is spun from this gorgeous corriedale fibre, that the lovely Heather sent me in a giveaway from her blog. I actually have half the fibre left too, so I can make another one, although I am spinning something else at the moment.

I haven't actually calculated the weight (I think it's roughly DK though) or the length yet, I've been too busy oohing and aaahing over how pretty it looks *laughs*

Thank you Heather *grins*

Colourful Crafting

In light of yesterday's post, about crafting balance, I have a smaller set of WIPs to show you today. These are the things I have actively been working on this week! All other projects are sat in my pile-of-lonely-projects-awaiting-attention, and there they can stay for the moment ;)

So, granny squares, spinning and Super Awesome Happy Rainbow Socks are my primary projects at the moment. I posted about the squares on Monday, nothing more to report really at this stage.

My socks are as super, awesome and happy as ever. I'm torn between a desire to have them finished, and the pleasure of working on them *laughs* I still have a few stripes to go, as I plan to use up every scrap of yarn to have them be as long as possible. I can't wait to wear them, although the weather right now is not conducive to hand knit socks *laughs* Not that I am complaining, I like the sunny weather!

Spinning is going well, although I do seem to end up with tiny bits of fluff all over me and everything else when I'm doing it... More practice required I think ;)

One thing I have noticed from this picture - look how varied the colours are *grins* After spending so much time working with grey, I seem to have subconsciously chosen a whole array of bright colours. It certainly makes for a more vibrant in progress pile ;)

As ever, if you want more lovely knitting and yarn along content, head to Tami's and Ginny's *smiles*

Spinning Around*

I mentioned on Monday how I'd been very into spinning lately. Well, between spinning the 2 singles for my blue yarn, I grabbed a handful of the fibre Heather sent me and had a quick go with it *grins*

I only used a little, and was fairly quick and easy about it. So my singles ended up pretty chunky, but that was fine for this little experiment. I just wanted to see what it was like to spin.

Plied together, I had an approximately aran/worsted weight, which I was very happy with *smiles*

So I knitted it into a strip, just to see what it looked like...

It was a lot of fun spinning this - the colour changes made it really interesting and a nice break from the denim blue. It was slightly strange though - going from spinning merino to corriedale, such a different texture and feel to it.

I'm now spinning the rest of the fibre, but this time much thinner to get as much as possible out of what I have. No idea what I'll use it for, but that's not the point at all *laughs*



*Yeah, I know, not very imaginative! I'm running out of spinning related titles that are clever ;)

Pale Walls of Dreams*

A little while ago, I posted this picture...

Just to demonstrate that I haven't completely given up on spinning *laughs* I've been working on this denim blue fibre from Vegas:

Well, recently I've been all spinning all the time. I found myself forsaking other crafting to spin, and have been really enjoying it. So, I split my fibre into 2, spun them both and plied them together, and now I have this:

I made yarn *big grin*

I have about 55 meters of approximately DK weight. It's 100% merino and is so soft and squishy. I love it *grins some more*

I have a light blue fibre that I also bought at the same time, so I plan to spin that to about the same thickness and knit something with stripes.

But first, I'm spinning the lovely corridale Heather sent me, just for the fun of having different colours ;)


"Talking, talking. Spinning a web of words, pale walls of dreams, between myself and all I see." - John Gardner


Linking up with Keep Calm Crafting On

Red Yarn at Night

Wow - my camera really hates red *laughs* But after so many weeks of all-grey knitting I needed something a little bit bright for contrast!

I updated progress on the gorgeous Stripe Study Shawl yesterday, so I won't bore you with that again. If you missed it, Narragansett was finished and is gorgeous and wonderful *grins*

Other grey projects - boyfriend's second sock, which has had about another inch of progress. I realised that I was hating knitting it on DPNs, having got so used to doing everything with magic loop. So, I have transferred the sock onto a circular and hopefully it will result in a little more knitting happening *laughs*

Gran's scarf is a little longer, but nothing really to write home about. 

And the red project will be a little vest to go over a shirt, using up some ancient acrylic given to me by a colleague. It's not the nicest to knit with, but it's a smallish project so I'm hoping it won't take too long. Plus, it's nice and bright, much easier to work on in low light than the dark grey of the socks!

In other news, I picked up my drop spindle for the first time in ages, and have been doing some spinning *grins*

I'm using the fibre I bought in Vegas - a pure merino in the colour "denim" - based on the colour the yarn is becoming with all the shades blended together, denim is exactly right. And it's so soft and lovely *grins* I think my spinning is improving - there are definitely still underspun, overspun, thick and thin bits, but it feels more consistent than it used to.

As ever, if you want more lovely knitting and reading content, head to Tami's and Ginny's *smiles*

New Books

I got a couple of new books recently...

Respect the Spindle - I saw this on another blog recently (although I'm sorry to say that I have forgotten whose!) and thought it would be a good investment. I'm still trying to learn to spin properly, not that I have done all that much lately, and I thought this might give me the impetus to get back to it.

I've only flicked through so far, but it's really quite comprehensive *laughs*

The second was a gift from cunning boyfriend. He spotted it while doing some shopping and decided to buy it for me *smiles*

There are some very cute, and some downright bizarre patterns in there. The book even came with the supplies needed to make the London Pigeon *laughs*

Work In Progress Wednesday Number 38

This week's picture is one of those that doesn't look wildly different from last week - Shalom is longer (and easier to photograph!) but not impressively so. The sock is longer, but not in a way that is all that noticeable.

However there are 2 key differences... The lack of fuzzy mohair indicates that the ballet sweater is finished *grins* Well, I still need to attach the ties, but it'll be ready for a reveal on Friday. Finally ;)

And there is a new project at the front, a pair of mitts. This is actually the second of the pair, I flew through the first one while I was procrastinating about knitting the ties for the ballet sweater *laughs* The pattern is Treads, which has a lovely stitch pattern accent around the wrist and the top of the hand.

The yarn is a lot more teal than that in real life, but no matter what I did the camera just wouldn't pick it up. It's the Debbie Bliss Fez that the lovely Laura sent me, in case I wanted to use it as a contrast colour for the grey version I bought. I think I have decided what to do with the grey, which doesn't need a contrast, so I get to use the gorgeous teal for something else *grins*

After the cold weather snap, I wanted some more mitts, and this yarn is so cosy and soft. Even better, I've found a way to link the pattern into a Nerd Wars challenge *grins*

I feel like there is less knitting progress than usual to show you, but this might have something to do with that:

*grins*

As ever, if you want more lovely knitting and reading content, head to Tami's and Ginny's *smiles* And if you're a regular, check out my post yesterday for an awesome giveaway!

Keep Your Lips Away*

Recently I noticed a post on GirlanachronismE's blog about buying a "learn to spin" kit. She cunningly included the link to the etsy listing, and a few clicks later I appeared to have ordered one for myself *laughs*

I'd been meaning to give it a go for a while, and the day I saw that post my blog reader had quite a few posts about spinning popping up all over the place. So I took the plunge.

I started with this lovely fluff:

A short time later, I had this:

Followed by a ball of spun singles:

It almost looks like yarn already *smiles* But then I made another one of these and plied them together, to make this:

This is the pre-soaked yarn, which was washed, dried and skeined to become this:

Real live yarn *grins, a lot*

It's thick and thin and overspun and underspun, but I made it myself and it looks like actual yarn *happy dance* I'm pretty impressed, as you can no doubt tell ;)

Boyfriend was wonderfully patient when he came home to me thrusting it into his hands and repeatedly telling him "look, I made yarn" *laughs* And he didn't even groan when I mentioned that if I get into it then the stash might expand to accommodate a fibre stash too ;)

I'm now working on spinning some of the purple blended roving from the kit. I'm pretty slow, and not very good at it just yet, but I'm really enjoying it. Looks like you might see more handspun on here from time to time!


* "My advice is keep your lips away from the spinning things." - Adam Savage (of Mythbusters fame)