To recap, I bought 75g of pink and 75g of black corriedale fibre from twist fibre in December, with the intention of spinning them to equal weights and then knitting some colourwork mittens. It took me a while to spin it all up using my spindle, but I just love spindling :)
I got a new niddynoddy from Twist Fibre on Saturday, and quickly got to work skeining up the yarn I've made. I have 4 skeins of black and 2 of pink.
This is my new niddynoddy. It's an Ashford one, it makes 60" skeins. I love it, it makes it so much easier to skein yarn and to measure it.
And the obligatory arty shot ;)
I think my yarn turned out to be more of a laceweight than a fingering weight though. I at first thought that it would be a DK weight, but apparantly I got carried away with spinning finer and finer :) I have 822.5 yards of the pink, and 743 yards of black yarn. The black seems a little thicker. I'll have to weight the skeins again now that they've been washed and set etc. Just in case that made a difference ;) But those numbers seem quite laceweight-y to me. Because of this, I'm not sure it'll work for mittens. I don't think I'm patient enough to knit laceweight mittens!! :D But I think the pink would look lovely in a stole or shawl just by itself. I just have to see it as an exercise in letting the fibre become what it wants. I can always spin more yarn to make mittens from :)
I haven't written since before I went to the spinning guild, but I have that and more social knitting to write about! I've been a busy little bee :D
The guild was awesome!! It was so lovely to be in a room full of people who were also really into making things with fibre! It was the first meeting of the year, and also the Annual General Meeting of the guild so there were a lot of people there. The hall was full of spinning wheels and looms :) I took my spindle along and started plying my pink yarn while I was there. I got a bit tangled more than once, but it was lots of fun, and to see the things other people were making was just so inspirational. There were amazing arty yarns which I just loved. It gave me lots of ideas :) There were also projects people had brought that they had made from their own handspun, or yarn or fibre they had dyed, and it was so cool to see just what could be made! Who knew that all these talented crafters lived near me? It's something you don't hear about generally, but there are all these people around being so creative and amazing, it's just astounding!
Once I got back home, I sat and plied yarn all evening on my spindle. I figured out the perfect technique for minimizing tangles while sitting on my sofa (not sure I could manage it while in public, but I'm sure I'll be able to figure something out) My singles had been rolled into a ball, because they were so thin that it seemed easier to do that than attempt to ply it using my makeshift lazykate (chopsticks and a cardboard box). Ha!! The balls rolled everywhere, got tangled in everything. Then the singles would twist back on themselves and create knots that I had to untangle while trying to keep everything else from tangling. I figured that when I'm on my sofa at least, I can put one ball on my knee, and one down by my left side on the sofa. Then I put a book or something in front of that ball to stop it rolling on the floor (the one on my knee I have more control over stopping doing that) That seems to work well for plying thin singles on a spindle. I'll need to get a photo of me doing that, I don't know if I described it well enough.
I also was so excited that I blabbed on to the bf and his mother for about two hours about spinning and all the ideas I had. I'm sure they thought I was completely mental, especially when I told them about my idea for an art yarn involving barbie heads ;) But it had been so nice to be with people who understood spinning and crafting and accept the mentalness that goes with it :)
Then this Saturday I went to the knitting group at Twist Fibre craft studio. That was a lot of fun. I was knitting my Maeva socks (more on those in another post, but here's a quick pic)
I was on the cuff, which is just moss ribbing and I had been getting a bit bored working on them at home, so I took them with me. I managed to race 3/4 of the way up the cuff while I was there, which was great! It was much easier to knit them while talking to other people about knitting and crafting (and a side journey into talking about bed bugs and cockroaches, but I won't subject you to that here, it made me itch just thinking about them!) My friend that I'd gone with came to the Twist Fibre group too, so that was fun, to see her again.
I had loads of fun at both these events, and now I can't wait till next month for the next meetings :)
Well, a weaving/spinning/dying guild, but there's spinning!! And since I've been using my spindle more and more recently, I'm super excited about going.
One of my friends from dance class spins, and it turns out that she's been going to this guild for ages, so I asked her if I could tag along :D The meeting is held in a nearby village, so it's easily reachable by the bus, which is great! I'm very excited about getting to meet other people who do fibery stuff. I already go to the knitting morning which is held every month at my LYS (twist fibre craft studio), and it'll be great to meet even more people who are into the same stuff as me. From what my friend told me about the guild, it sounds very interesting - classes, sales, demos, I can't wait!!
Here's some of the spinning I've been doing recently.
It's hot pink corriedale, which I purchased from twist fibre. I've got about 75g of that and 75g of black, which I've already spun up into singles. However, tiny black strands of fibre is really hard to photograph :/ The pink was easier :) I've finished spinning the pink into singles now, and I'm going to ply them up next. Just black with black and pink with pink. Then I'm going to make some colourwork mittens or something with them. I think it'll end up being a DK weight. I'm using my smaller spindle that I got at Knit Camp, and I'm getting a lot better at spinning the singles consistently. There's still some thicker and some thinner bits, but it'll even out in the plying, I think.
Right now, I'm trying to finish off my Kerrera cardi, which I started sometime in Nov/Dec last year. Kerrera is by Gudrun Johnson, whose designs I just adore. I've already knit the Shetland Shorty, which was by her, and I totally want to knit that again. I just love to go to her Ravelry designer page and drool over all her wonderful designs.
I love the Kerrera cardigan, the ones I've seen on other people. It seems to be quite flattering on a range of body shapes. I love the long length, and the way it hangs open at the bottom, and the hood. And the way the border looks is really nice. But it's a pain to knit :/ It's in double garter stitch, which involves wrapping the yarn round twice and then knitting the extra wrap with the next stitch. There's a tutorial with the pattern, and there's a youtube video on how to do it.
It's not hard to do in and of itself, but the extra wrapping seems to make the stitches tighter on the needle for some reason, and I keep having to push them past the join on my circular needle. I'm on the big side border now, the front and the neckband, all the way around in one go. I have no idea how many stitches it is, I didn't even bother trying to count as I picked them up, I just picked up as many as looked right. But it's a lot. It takes between 45 minutes and an hour to do each row, partly because of the many stitches, and partly because of the extra time involved in wrapping the yarn twice and pushing the stitches along. At least it's relatively mindless once you get the hang of it :/
I'm a bit worried about my version. It's looking very "homemade" just now, and not in a charming way. I used yarn that I ripped from my slobaround sweater that I never wore, but I didn't bother washing it first, so it's kinda crinkly just now. The "right" side of the stocking stitch looks ok, but when it gets to the reverse stocking stitch, it's very uneven. I'm placing a lot of faith in the blocking process... Actually, I think that'll sort out a lot of the problems I'm having with it, but it's a bit hard to have faith in it when the knitting is looking lumpy and uneven.
And why is it so difficult to pick up and knit stitches evenly on reverse stocking stitch??? I was picking up all these stitches for the border, and as soon as I hit that bit, it was just torture trying to pick them up and have it look good. I don't think it's just me, I was looking through project photos on ravelry last night, and I can see the same effect I was having on most of them. Nobody else seemed to mention it though, maybe I'm just being too perfectionist-y.
I'm being the same way about the sleeve pick-up stitches too. The sleeve is picked up from the sleeve cap and knit downwards, which is a very interesting construction to do, but mine just doesn't seem to look good.
See, massive gaps! And again, other people on ravelry have the same effect on their sweater, but they don't seem to mention if it bothers them. I did this picking up about five times, but that was the best I could get it to look. Again, placing a lot of faith in blocking! I hope it looks a lot better when it's actually on!
I figure if I still don't like it after blocking, I can crochet a ridge over it or something, but I don't think this technique is one I'll do again. If I make another Kerrera, I'll just change the pattern to knit the sleeves upwards and sew them in. And I might make another one, despite all my whining. I really like the sleeveless ones some people have done on ravelry, and that would cut out the whole problem altogether ;) I just had to come on a whinge a little about my misgivings before I went mad at the thing! :)
A while ago, I won this yummy, yummy Sundara yarn in a blog giveaway over at photoknitdog.wordpress.com
See that shine? Gorgeous, gorgeous yarn! It's the Cactus Flower colourway, and I just love it. I don't know how Lina could possibly have parted with it! But I was very pleased and happy when it arrived in the post, and have been looking for the perfect pattern for it. Now, I have two perfect patterns. And I can't decide!
There's Elektra, by Rosemary Hill, from her booklet 7 small shawls to knit. This one has a benefit in that I've already got this pattern.
But there's also Gaenor by Corrina Ferguson. This would show off the yarn beautifully, I think.
Now, someone has already knit the Elektra shawl in the same yarn and colourway - LAylor13's Elektra - so you can see how the yarn would look with the pattern. Her version is just beautiful!
And there are two versions of Gaynor using Sundara Fingering Silky Merino yarn, in different colourways. There's Lismete's Gaenor, and A2KIWI's gaenor, which are both beautiful too.
Sigh... isn't it nice to have dilemmas such as this? I'm a very lucky person, I know, when this is all that is filling up my head.
So, do you have any ideas which one I should make? I like how both patterns have the garter stitch to show off the yarn, but they both also have lacy bits round the bottom to give interest. I really like the curved shape of the Elektra, I think that shape sits so much better round the neck, but from looking at project photos, it seems the Gaenor is long enough that it would wrap round and sit well too.
Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you're all having a lovely 2011, and that the whole year is good for you. I have plans (!) for this year, and a great big list of things to do. Not so much resolutions, as just things to get done. I've done some already, like started exercising more, and I've still got to do some, like phoning the dentist and making an appointment. I don't want to do that one, but I guess I have to. :( I also have a HUGE case of NewYearItis, and want to travel, to experience all sorts of new things, and generally get a bunch of stuff achieved. Still, one thing at a time, eh?
I've finally started taking pictures of my knitted and crocheted items from last year (one of the things on the list!) :D
I'll start off on this post with some toys that I made in December. Christmas was quite stressful, not so much for me, but it seemed that everyone around me was super-stressed, which was more what made me stressed. This year, I'm banning all mention of Christmas until December 15th at least! I was getting a bit fed up with being asked if I'd done everything. The way I figure it, I get things done when I get things done. And if they're not done, then they're not done, and I'm not going to stress out over it. Shame no-one else around me seems to have this attitude :(
So anyway, I was getting mega-annoyed with everyone and everything, so I decided to make some small toys to cheer myself up. Not as Xmas gifts or anything, just for me! I just picked some random acrylic odds and ends out of my stash, and away I went. The first one I made was this cute owl:
This was really easy and fun to make. I glued the eyes and beak on, but I just noticed that in the sample, she's actually sewn them on. I just stuck some fabric glue on before it had been stuffed and put books on it overnight to stick them down fully, and it seems to have worked.
I love all the Mario related knitting and crochet stuff that I see out there on the internet, and I figured it was about time to make some for myself :D
I also made an amigurumi Hello Kitty bumblebee, because I just love Hello Kitty.
Pattern: "Hello Kitty Bumble Bee" by Armina Parnagian. You can download this pattern from http://arminas-aminals.blogspot.com/ (the link is over on the right sidebar) I love all her Hello Kitty amigurumi, she designs them so cute!!! Here's my bumblebee kitty sitting with my witch kitty, also designed by Armina.
And just to cheer things up in the cold and snow, I made a crocheted sunflower!
I don't have a particular thing for sunflowers or anything, I just thought this pattern was so cute! :D
All those toys definitely made me a bit happier in the run up to Xmas. They were all quick and easy to make, so there was that instant gratification thing that always feels so good with quick patterns. And they turned out really cute, I like them all. They're brightening up my bookshelves now, and I feel so happy when I look at them there :D
I love the snow!! It's my favourite weather of all :) I love the absolute silence when the snow is falling, and it just looks amazing! I've lost count of how many inches of snow has fallen on my little corner of Scotland, but I've been taking lots of pictures of it.
My flickr set with lots and lots of snow pics is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27132829@N03/sets/72157625504116036/with/5225004170/
I've been knitting something to keep me warm in this cold weather. I was listening to the "stash and burn" podcast, and heard Nicole talking about the Kerrera cardi she was making. I looked up the pattern, and decided I liked it very much :) I had just frogged my slob-about sweater (rav project page and blog post) because it was absolutely massive, and I had never worn it. Not once. It weighed about 700g, and the rib pattern I used just stretched and stretched and stretched. It would have fit Santa Claus!! So I'm using the yarn (James C Brett Aran with Wool) to make myself a Kerrera cardi. I'm up to the armhole seperation now, and it's quite warm and toasty sitting on my lap as I knit :) Just what is needed, really :)
