New Yarns

Claret and Mistletoe a festive singles yarn in merino. 

 Brandied Apriocots, a merino and alpaca mix - very soft and cuddly. 

Beacon in the fog.  This is the resulting yarn from the grey and red mohair mix.  I love this mix as it is so subtle. 

Victorian Fernery - a merino mix.

Moth Wings  Alpaca mixed with merino, spun into a 2 ply yarn.  A delicate mix

Wingham Wool Sampling Day

The Lavenham Guild of Spinners and Weavers along with Wingham Wool put on a sampling day last weekend, if ever you get the opportunity to go to one of these days then go, the idea is that you take your wheel and are free to sample spin any of the fibres that Wingham bring along; so armed with my wheel I went along. There was a huge amount of fiber to choose from and I came away with a skein of wool that I had spun throughout the day along with some purchases.

Here is my finished skein

It includes cashmere, purple alpaca mixed with sari silk, dyed merino in a variety of colours, a red merino and  silk mix, some pink merino with fluffy bits in it, merino and linen mix, red mohair with gold angelina, bottle tops  and crab. I am not entirely sure what I will do with the skein, but I did enjoy the sampling. 

I came home with some grey merino to mix with red mohair 

here it is carded up ready to spin 

Also, some purple alpaca to mix with sari silk and sparkly stuff and some green and red merino mixes for Christmas wools. 

I have started to spin up the grey merino with the mohair today after finishing a mix of cream alpaca and pale green and brown - I don't have a picture of this at the moment. 

Today was also spent making of the Christmas cake, (the oven seems to have been on for hours) I like the ritual of making this cake every year. I make Deila's rich fruit cake although there was a year when I deviated from this and made a Nigel Slater fruit cake, which although it was very tasty just didn't seem the same.

The cake is out of the oven cooling and will now be stored and fed until a week or so before Christmas when my husband will ice it (he is so much better at this than me).

Creating graduated yarn - Seventies Kitsch-en!

A while back I purchased some orange merino roving from World of Wool, the colour is Clementine, I mixed this with some blue and green to create this yarn.

In the end I didn't use much of the orange and had quite a lot left over; as I also had some brown left from another project and I thought I would have a go at creating a graduated batt, blending from cream through the orange to brown which I could spin into a gently graduated yarn (that was the theory anyway).

I started by blending cream with various proportions of orange, then orange with brown to create the transitions. Finally I arranged the colour from light to dark through the carder - here is the resulting batt

I made four of these and then spun them into singles before plying them together.
Here is the resulting yarn

It became apparent during the spinning process that I had to decide how to make the transition from the end of one batt (the dark brown) to the next batt, should I carry on with the brown from the second batt, or should I jump back to the cream, in the end I decided to carry on with the brown, this meant that when this is knitted up there will be a larger proportion of brown than the cream or orange.
If I decide to make this yarn again then I will certainly take more time to think about how to work the transition and plan this at the batt making stage.
Care also needs to be taken in order to get the transitions to 'line up' or happen at a similar place during the plying part of the spinning.

My Turn to make the Tea

Top row left to right, Lisapires Hamstead Heath Autumn Moments; Janebeckwelshblanket, Ruby red Welsh tapestry cloak; Mrs. Crafting, Make room for tea; Ester Coombs, Illustrated tea cup and saucer.

2nd row left to right, My Vintage Studio, Old Macfarland Lang 1940s biscuit tin; Laylaamber, Tea and biscuit hair clips; Goozeberry Hill, Spoonful of sugar; A Crooked Sixpence, Winter warmer hot water bottle sweater.

3rd row left to right, Sweettreatsbakery, Ginger and honey biscuits; Myvntageheart, My Turn to Make the Tea; Stephcuddles, Stitchmarkers; Knithappens, PDF pattern for Snooks Daisy Gloves.

4th row left to right, Charles and Oliver, Red retro tea cosy; SimplyAroha, Mohair scarf; Purlsofcolour, Put some Zig in your Zag scarf; Tinbabernacle, Pigeon oil painting 'Backwards Glance'

Drum Carding.....Finally!!!!

A couple of months ago my lovely husband gave me a Minty Drum Carder  -  I think he had got fed up with me going on about needing one & just went ahead and got it!

It is such a lovely thing, beautifully made & incredibly practical and I am enjoying myself making up new blends to spin. 

My first experiment was mixing blue falkland, dark blue/purple merino, bamboo and sparkle:

Here are the component parts - falkland, merino, bamboo and a little bit of silver angelina sparkle (how I love the sparkle -  I feel like a child using it!)

Going through the carder...

The resulting batt waiting to be spun...

Finally, spun into a singles yarn. It surprised me how quickly this spun up!

Cornish Beachcomber Fingerless Gloves

A small ball of handspun wool formed the basis of these gloves. I wasn't sure if I would have enough of this particular handspun mix to knit a complete pair of gloves, so after a lot of fiddling about in my stash of yarns I decided to use some commercial slate grey alpaca - which was left over from a previous project - as a frame.

I knitted these gloves in-the-round: it is always a thrill and a revelation to see the pattern and texture unfold as the rows go by, and I found that, whilst knitting, images of Victorian women searching for fossils and shells on windswept beaches with high cliffs filled my head.

I think the way the wool changes through greys to black, and onwards through to shades of blue brought to mind layers of rock in the cliff face.  Or perhaps I just had this particular picture in my head?

Pegwell Bay by William Dyce

About a year ago I read the book Remarkable Creatures by Tracey Chevalier so maybe I had thoughts of that as well?  (Watch a clip about the book here)

It also happened that last weekend we were visiting my Dad and, whilst there, I came across a book in his collection by the Cornish-based artist Kurt Jackson -

I was completely taken with his paintings, particularly the seascapes which formed the theme in this book.  I had taken the gloves along to finish, and it just seemed that the colours and texture of the wool I was using reflected his work - hence the name Cornish Beachcomber.

Crochet Throw - Never ending squares

There is something very restful about crocheting, I find..... I love the rhythm that crochet creates, and the fact that, like knitting, it allows glorious indulgence in colour.
I started this throw in April and it just grew and grew, each row adding to its size.  I have used acrylic yarn, which I must say I would not have even considered had it not been for Lucy of Attic 24 and her use of Stylecraft yarns - see here  and here- so lovely!
In my granny square throw I have used both Hayfield Bonus and Stylecraft DK, picking up the odd ball here and there to extend it and gradually increase the size; and I to say that they worked really well, being both easy to work with and soft.

Looking at the colours - which are all greens and browns - I was perhaps thinking about the new shoots of spring leaves appearing all around, and the long, hot, sultry summer days to come....

Baby alpaca

I finally completed spinning and plying the black baby alpaca a couple of weekends ago.  The plying took nearly three hours in an epic session on Sunday afternoon -  it felt like I had been spinning and plying this for months.   However, since the resulting yarn is so soft and fine, I feel it has been well worth all the effort!

2 ply, just under 4oz, approx 416 yds WPI 20-22

Now I'm taking a break from alpaca while I spin up some muted red merino that I have in my stash.   At the back of my mind I still have ideas for the orange & black and the lime green & black mixes (based on the chocolate theme.....mmmm!!) it is now a question of just deciding if I spin singles or a plied yarn.....Decisions, decisions....

Spinning Wool - Beyond the Basics

Recommended Reading for Spin-a-holics!!!!
I have been reading a book that I picked up in my local library by Anne Field - it's called 'Spinning Wool - Beyond the Basics'.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Spinning-Wool-Anne-Field/dp/1408130815/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1303038960&sr=8-1

It is packed with useful information about spinning wool from fleece, and also includes a chapter on different types of wheel - with some nice photos! - they are always of interest....!

Quite a factual book, but without being in any way dry (I've been reading bits to my husband before we go to sleep & he claims to be 'stimulated'.....!!!!) and I have learnt many useful things -  for example, my wheel is a double drive wheel, and I hadn't realised that both Scotch and Irish tension wheels do not let additional twist into the yarn once the yarn is pulled towards the flyer, but on a double drive wheel twist continues to be let into the yarn as it is drawn in.  The relationship between the crimp in the wool and the number of twists to spin per inch is also explored in detail - something else I hadn't thought about.

If you like a book with lots of pictures of lovely yarns then this isn't the book for you -but if you want something with lots of helpful tips then it definitely is....and it might stimulate your partner? (Or not!!!)

Equinox

I had three balls of Kidsilk haze in my stash for some time; two balls of soft blue (I believe the shade is called ‘Trance’) and a ball of black.  I wanted to crochet a soft wrap with it so started a piece using a stitch called Iris, a very simple repeat of trebles with a chain in between.  Everything was going well until it became apparent at the end of the first ball that I would not have enough yarn to get anywhere near the size of wrap that I wanted!  The thread is impossible to unravel once crocheted (I don’t know how it behaves when knitted….any thoughts out there?) and as I so loved the results I was getting with the yarn as it was so soft and light, I had a decision to make  – do I buy more haze in blue, or try and do something with the two remaining balls (one blue and one black)?

After experimenting with various widths, I created a two-tone scarf consisting of one half black and one half blue.  By chance, I finished this around the time of the Vernal Equinox and, as the scarf is half blue and half black it fitted the idea of equal day and night, so I have named it Equinox.

Crocheted in Kidsilk Haze, 2 2.25g balls, using a size 5mm hook.

I am so pleased with the result that I have my eye on some beautiful hand dyed kidsilk from  http://www.etsy.com/shop/Lichtfaden on Etsy (on vacation at the moment), I am sure some beautiful pieces are waiting to be made from this…!!

Magical spinning……

Since my old Westbury wheel was rescued from the loft, I have become addicted to spinning.  I will be forever grateful to my husband who dutifully brought it down, took it to bits and made the wheel work again for me. 

The process of spinning yarn is magical; you never know how the yarn will look until the very end and there are so many things that can alter or influence the end product.   It is so satisfying in this world where things can seem so identikit and manufactured to make something that is ever unique & personal…..

Here is the alpaca mix that I mentioned in an earlier post, plied together, I would never have guessed that it would end up like this – it is quite different to how I imagined…..?

I have in mind for this wool a pattern for some mittens that I have seen on Ravelry  but in order to make these I need to spin some cream 2-ply up. 

Baby Alpaca and Barbara Gray Stamping

I had an enjoyable morning today watching the very talented Barbara Gray making beautiful cards with her Clarity Stamps on Create and Craft while I picked through the baby alpaca fleece that came from Willowmead Alpacas last May.

The baby alpaca is a beautiful fleece, so soft and with a rich brown, almost black colour lightly tipped with copper.   Sadly, it is absolutely full of moss and grass!!!   Apparently the Alpacas love to roll around on the ground – in their native climate this would be to give themselves a dust-bath – but here in green & grassy Suffolk they gather moss instead of dust.   In this case, a Rolling Alpaca DOES gather moss I guess, unlike the proverbial stone!   I’m certain they have a lovely time, but it means that as the fleece attracts the moss at the tips of the staple I have to cut out these out, and in doing this, I loose the lovely light coppery colours, which is a shame.

I have already spun a number of yarns from this fleece and still have a large amount of it left.  I have begun to card and spin the prepared fleece into a fine yarn similar to the cream alpaca; my intention is to create a skein of plain brown/black and then maybe a partner yarn with mint green – a mint chocolate mix and then maybe even a chocolate orange mix

Enchanted Forest

 

If my dreams are like a forest, deep, sometimes rich and verdant and green, sometimes skeletal with woody fingers piercing heavenwards, writing an age-old calligraphic story of time immemorial, then.... whatever the season .... if my dream is a forest, then it is an enchanted forest. 

Top Line (left to right) : The Magpie’s Daughter http://www.etsy.com/shop/themagpiesdaughter,  

Fairysteps http://www.etsy.com/shop/fairysteps, NatureMandalas ttp://www.etsy.com/shop/NatureMandalas 

Creationdesigns http://www.etsy.com/shop/creationdesigns, Second line (left to right) Craftypagan  

http://www.etsy.com/shop/craftypagan,  Inmostlight http://www.etsy.com/shop/InmostLight, 

Beautifulplace http://www.etsy.com/shop/beautifulplace, Darshanpottery http://www.etsy.com/shop/darshanpottery.  Third line (left to right) Forstrangewomen

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ForStrangeWomen, Natureinspiredcrafts 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/natureinspiredcrafts, Robinwade http://www.etsy.com/shop/robinwade, 

Oddfae http://www.etsy.com/shop/oddfae.  Forth line (left to right) Weirdandtwisted http://www.etsy.com/shop/WeirdAndTwisted,

Woodlandbelle  http://www.etsy.com/shop/WoodlandBelle,

LAtelierduchatnoir http://www.etsy.com/shop/LAtelierduChatNoir,

Tinyowlsmagicattic http://www.etsy.com/shop/TinyOwlsMagicAttic

Promise

How shall I love thee? With silver or gold or jewels? No, I will love thee with a walk through the bluebell woods as spring delivers her faithful promise and the flower heads sprout through the mossy green carpet floor, and winter is bid farewell with a palate of fresh colours.

Waiting for spring....

I spent yesterday afternoon spinning up a bobbin of yarn, a mix of cream, brown alpaca and fresh green merino.  It has rested overnight and I will ply it up later today (I hope!) 

Trying to spin lace yarn

I have two alpaca fleeces, one is black - or near black, and the other is cream.  Last week I experimented  spinning the cream fleece as fine as I possibly could.   As the fleece is not overly mucky I have been spinning it without pre-washing. (or in the grease, my only irritation with these fleeces is that the these alpacas have had a lovely time rolling in the grass and moss!)   I first handcarded it into rolags and have spun it using a woolen technique, finally I plied the singles together to create a stronger yarn. The result is a very soft and light yarn which I am very happy with. 

However, I am sure I could get this finer and I am also curious to know how the singles would stand up on their own.  I am wondering if my next step should be to create a mix with the black or continue with the cream.... decisions decisions!

2 Ply

After spinning two bobbins of the gray BFL I plied it up and have ended up with a soft subtle coloured  2 ply yarn.  I have not done the measurements yet!

I am not sure what to call this yarn, for some reason it seems to bring to mind birds such as pheasants!

On the wheel

I recently dyed some grey BFL a mix of  inky blue, plum purple and burnt orange, leaving some of the wool undyed to create grey gaps. I have spun up one bobbin and it is waiting for its other half to make a two ply yarn.   For some reason the grey reminds me a bit of the colour of boys socks! 

Handspun Falkland Wool