Keeping Dry

I mentioned on a previous post showing off some of my recent spinning that I was planning on using the yarn for a hood. I have a beautiful Jaeger winter coat, proper boiled wool, warm, dry, but it has no hood. I was given it by a relative so hence it wasn't exactly my choice, but its a gorgeous coat all the same! So after spending this past winter and spring getting soaked on the school run, I decided to make myself a hood.

So I spun up some lovely yarns from batts and braids from Yummy Yarns UK, and while I was on holiday I turned these:

Into this:

I apologise that the pictures aren't better, but there is only so much I can do by myself and the husbeast is not very helpful in helping take pictures, so I make do where I can.

So this winter I shall be fabulous in a wool coat and hood, and not a drowned rat with soaked hair. A vast improvement on the state of affairs!

What projects are you all up to at the moment?

Till next time

So much spinning!

Hey and hi to all! I am back from holidays, a little later than planned, so I apologise, children have a habit of throwing you for a loop!

So a quick post today to cover the mass of spinning I have been doing lately but not sharing! Firstly I finally finished the super wash merino gradient I got from the Painted Tiger. Goodness that took me a while! But that's what I get for spinning fine with the intention of chain playing and having a lace weight yarn at the end. The aim was achieved and I went from this fluff:

To this yarn:

963m of it! I am certain that eventually it will be a shawl. I have all sorts of lace shawls planned ahead of me but it's all long term. For now I am back doing thicker yarns for  more immediate projects, especially a cardigan/jacket for me!

But before those yarns, I did spin for another winter accessory. I have the most gorgeous wool winter coat from Jaeger, but it has no hood. So I intend to make myself one, from two yarns I spun.

The first from these batts from Yummy Yarns UK

222m of worsted weight yarn. And its so much fun to spin Patricia's batts.

Also from her I have two braids of Southdown fibre, perfect for a hood to keep me from getting wet in the school run!

They became 608m of sport weight yarn, chain plied. I just love Patricia's fibres! Probably why I keep going back to her again and again. If that isn't a sign of a happy customer I don't know what is!

So these two will become a hood, in fact they already have! But I do not have pictures yet. But I was not idle on holiday, oh no! My hook was busy and I am so pleased to be able to stay dry now. But pictures to come! That's all for now, so till next time!

Thank You Project Complete

Goodness I have been quiet in my little corner of blogland. I had intended to post last week, as I have been very busy, but my smallest has been unwell, so that took priority. And I am now about to go on holiday for a week. So I had best fort my act out.

Anyway, as per my previous post, I had the ambitious idea to knit 6 thank you scarves for my son's teachers for the end of the year. I have just blocked and woven in the ends on the last one, and here they are.

Hand spun lace weight yarn from a Batt Dropping from Nunoco

Hand dyed lace weight yarn from Eden Cottage Yarns

Hand dyed lace weight yarn from KnitPicks (discontinued)

Hand spun fingering yarn from fibre from World of Wool

Hand spun fingering yarn from batts from Nunoco

Hand spun fingering yarn from batts from Nunoco

I am really very pleased with them all, and am looking forward to the time when it comes to wrap them and have the boy write out a thank you card for all they have done for him this year. They definitely deserve to have it written from him.

So there we are, a quick FO post to show you what I have been up to. More to come soon as long as I can get busy before we go on holiday!

Till next time!

An Ambitious Thank You Project

When I have a lot of knitting to do, I start early. If I am knitting for Christmas, I start in August. I knit a cardigan for winter this year, before the winter ended... if it has, that is of course debatable with the British weather! In this case, its thank you gifts for my son's school teachers.

A bit of context first. We became aware that our son wasn't engaging with pre-school in a typical way a term after he started. We quickly then began the referral to speech therapy, and that steamrolled into other referrals as it became obvious that his difficulties were not speech related, but with social communication and dealing with social situations. That hinted at something else. Things have progressed, and we had his future reception teachers involved in meetings about what he needed support wise in the spring before his transfer to reception in September last year. They have already been working with him a year even though there is a term left of this academic year.

In January he was formally diagnosed as mildly affected with Austim Spectrum Disorder, which explained a lot of his difficulties. but even prior to this, (and knowing it was likely) from the instant he joined reception year at school  the teaching team have been incredible. Where he struggled in pre-school, after a bumpy start he's really taken to school, settled in, and is flourishing. The last parent's evening was incredible, singing his praises, saying he's doing well in all areas, even making good ground in his social skills, even if it is his weakness. They have worked so hard, he has special sessions with the head teacher (who unfortunately is retiring at the end of the academic year) because he is ahead in Maths, (amongst other subjects but Maths is his powerhouse subject) and they are doing their utmost to keep stretching him, keep him engaged, and interested in school. The more new things he is learning, the happier and more settled he is. He's an academic at heart.

In short, the time and effort they are putting in, giving him extra one to one teaching and support is helping him reach his true potential, and he's truly shining thanks to them. And at the end of the year, he will be moving to new teachers (who he is already getting to know), new teaching assistants, and a new head. But I do want to thank them for all they have done for him. I know they will all get chocolates and mugs and all kinds of things like that, but those are easy. they don't really value what the ladies have put in, that thing which is so hard to put a value on. Time. And I wanted to thank them by giving them the same thing back from me. Time. Something that took hours of my time to make, like they put hours of their time into my son.

So I have begun an ambitious project. The idea is to have a scarf ready for the end of year for each of the team. Two class teachers, one head teacher and three teaching assistants... that's right, six of them. Hence I am starting early.

The pattern I have chosen is Boo Knits Dragonfly Wings. A lovely little scarf come shawlette, made with very little yarn, quick to make, but with pretty lace. In a variety of yarns, some lace weight, some fingering weight, and 4 out of the six yarns I have spun myself. I finished the first of the six in some handspun lace over the weekend:

Its a lovely pattern, very quick and easy, and I can knock out one of these in a few days. Which is good, because July will be here before I know it!

I can admit, while I can see the ladies in question often wear decorative scarves, I don't know a huge amount about each of their colour choices. So my plan is to knit in a mix of colours and textures, some brights, some muted, because the age ranges of the ladies are varied, and to give them as one big package and allow them all to choose their favourites. As such, here are the other five yarns:

A real range, including the two gradient skeins in the middle. Hopefully there will be something for everyone in there. I am currently working on the gold, so watch this space for more FO's! I really hope this will be something out of the ordinary for the ladies, and truly thank them for their invaluable work with children, and my son in particular!

Till next time

What I'm doing now

This seemed to be an appropriate title for a post, seeing as I have nothing finished to share this week. That's pretty much down to the nature of the crafty things I am currently up to, two of which are much longer term projects. So I thought rather than letting my blog go completely quiet, I would share what I am currently in the process of making.

First long term project, the crochet blanket. This is meant for my little miss' second birthday (as I knit her brother a blanket for his second birthday and it is still very beloved. Its only fair right?). Its also the blanket I was working on when I took pictures for last week's phototutorial

Its now as wide as I want (having laid it in her bed to check) and now I just need to make it lots longer!

Second project is the long term spinning project. I now have one full bobbin:

And have started trucking on with the second:

Now more into the blue end of the gradient, getting there slowly. When I can find a bit of peace I get half an hour done here, half an hour there, and one day, this will be finished. Then I foresee lots and lots of thicker spinning for quick gratification!

And lastly another project for the miss. This time a cardigan, in age two, for when autumn hits.

Yes I know its not even spring, but I like to be ahead of the game and have them in her drawer ready for when the weather hits. And given how much my mum knitted for her last year I'd like to get more of mine on her back this year ;) Not that I begrudge my mother knitting for her, she needed something to do those long months off work after her operation. And she has been lovingly wrapped in knits all winter so its a good thing.

That is such a horrid colour to photograph. Hopefully when its finished I might get some sunshine to try and get an accurate colour capture... I can only hope! But as you can see, sleeve stitches are on hold, and I'm a good way down the body now.

So that's what I am up to at the moment. What crafty projects have you all got on the go?

Till next time.

Trying Out Spinning Longwool

Learning to spin was an adventure, there is so much to learn about spinning. Staple length, the right about of twist, different ways to ply, and on a most basic level, getting your spinning something approximating even. You can get very technical, looking at grist, twists per inch, the angle of your twist... not my thing, I like to spin more by feel and spin for the fun of it.

But even so, once you have mastered the basics, there is still so much to learn, so many different fibres to try. Short wools, long wools, animal fibre, vegetable fibre, synthetic fibre! The list goes on, so many different breeds of sheep, goat, rabbit, camelids, ox and even possum! Some people even spin dog hair. So beyond the basics, there are so many different things to try.

Me, I have been primarily a spinner of the short to medium fibres, usually wool breeds like Shetland, Bluefaced Leicester, Merino, throw in some silk, some trilobal nylon or firestar... that's been my spinning home. But I haven't really ventured into long wools much. I had some locks in some batts I spun a while back that were such a restful, easy spin, and I decided I really must give it a try. So far my favourite dyer of longwools has to be Patricia of Yummy Yarns UK.

She dyes a lot of Wensleydale, but also breeds like Masham, Leicester Longwool locks and Teeswater. There is always a vibrancy to her colours which is taken up by the lustre in these fibres, which when spun are hardy, and leave a slight halo which may not agree with all who have issues with wool that is not super smooth. But given she is a favourite, I tried a braid from her first! This one:

This braid is handpainted Wensleydale / Mulberry silk in a 70/30 blend, and she named this colour Ullswater. Its one of several long wool braids I have in my stash, but it was the first to come out to play.

I have to say, the experience spinning was an interesting one. Her braids draft so beautifully, but a long wool even more so because the staple is so long, its so forgiving. However, it doesn't need a huge amount of twist, unlike somthing like merino that needs a lot to lock it down, so its something you have to get used to. But once you do, it makes for a slow and lazy spin that is thoroughly enjoyable.

One thing to note is that long wool is less voluminous than its short wool counterparts. You can lay a braid of say Wensleydale and a braid of merino side by side of the same weight, and the long wool will look skinny by comparison. This does show in the final spin too. You do get less yarn per weight, its the nature of the beast. But you just need to factor that in for a project you have in mind.

Despite this I chose to chain ply mine into a high twist 3 ply, thinking for socks. Long wools do well for socks as they are hard wearing, and feet are less fussy about the halo than say your neck. I also have small feet and I really don't need 400m for a pair of socks! That said, once plied, my 104g of fibre had yeilded a lovely fingering weight yarn and 289m, enough for socks for me!

Definitely very enjoyable and I love the colours, and will give rather pretty socks I feel.

So if you are thinking about long wools, please do go look up Yummy Yarns UK. Every braid is one of a kind, no repeated colours so you need to grab one you like when you see it. And after having had a minor issue with an order, I can honestly say that the customer service is second to none! Absolutely brilliant. So buy with confidence.

Till next time

Seasonal Hitchhiker

I am back. Technical issues are now sorted and I have a shiny new beastie of a computer to blog with. Thank you for the kind communications from some of my readers regarding the sad news in my hiatus post. They were very welcome thank you. But normal service can once more resume.

So my lastest finished object. It started as some lovely batts above. They were a lovely christmas gift from Patricia of Yummy Yarns UK. A surprise gift at that, and full of lovely scrumptious fibres. Merino in yellow and red, brown jacob fleece, and lashings of gold firestar. As a lover of sparkle, I was in love.

It took me a long time to come to spin, as I really wasn't sure how I would treat them. Until I decided to experiment with some commercial silk tops. I will explain. For some reason I have tried to spin silk bricks. And I have struggled and fought and swore at them over and over. 100% silk and I had a love/hate relationship at this point. A long while later, after having a good read round spinning forums on Ravelry, I decided to invest a small amount in commercial silk tops with all the fibres aligned by machine, so that in theory, it should be an easier spin. One of the colours I chose was a wonderful sunshine yellow. So I gave it a go. And finally, I had a way I could spin silk without stress.

So, now I had this lovely yellow silk singles I had spun, but what to do with them? I went through my fibre stash, saw these batts and the answer came to me. So I got spinning, and then plying, and wound up with this beautiful yarn:

Soft, warm, luxurious, it screamed to be made into something for the winter. And with the winter months coming soon, a scarf was on the agenda! I chose the Hitchhiker pattern on Ravelry for its simple style and interest being a shallow triangle, and because I loved the reference to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I can be a bit of a nerd now and then.  The squooshy garter stitch fabric is also lovely and warm, as well as showing off the colours of the yarn beautifully.

And to my delight, with my gauge I was able to get all 42 teeth done with the yarn I had. I even had a little left over. Maybe I could have done a couple more teeth, but I am happy with it as it is, and its been keeping me warm on the school run.

There we are, my latest finished knit! What are you all making to keep warm in the winter?

Till next time!