I Have Yarn!

Actual yarn is gracing this blog today.  Honest to goodness home spun yarn - I am such a happy blogger!  Look what I made!

The Romney fibre is beautifully soft and has created a plump and springy yarn.  I think this fibre is one I would enjoy working with again, particularly after more practice, because it will be nice to kit with.  As I only have approximately 33m of yarn I don't think I'll be able to knit much with it.  But it would be nice to have a small swatch to show how it knits up as a fabric.  I want to learn about how fibre behaves and I think spinning will inform my future knitting decisions.

As the yarn is my first attempt there are lots of places where the spinning is inconsistent with very tightly spun and very loosely spun next to each other creating a thick and thin yarn which varies between 11 and 9 wpi.

I also think I overplied the yarn and this helped contribute to the limited length of the yarn.  My drafting technique definitely improved throughout the course of spinning this fibre, so hopefully my next attempt will be better.

The above photos are a bit inaccurate colour-wise because of the light, but this next photo is much more true.

I am pleased with this first attempt and I really enjoyed making it.  So much so, that I ordered 200g each of Falkland , Merino and Blue-Faced Leicester to practice on and discover how different fibres feel.  I have ordered from World of Wool which seems to have a good selection and the prices were acceptable to me.  I have no idea really what tops should cost, so I can only go on what I am prepared to pay.  If  anyone has any other recommendations for UK sources of fibre, please let me know.

I settled on my selection of fibres after asking Twitter, and from comments left on the last post.  I think these fibres will be interesting to play with and you never know, by the time I've got to the end of the fibre, I might have useable yarn!

I'm hooking up, as usual, with Tami, so click the button to check out other people's lovely things!

A Shopping Spree and New Skill

I have been away from home for a few days.  I've been lucky enough to be up in York visiting my family.  Well, that was a side benefit of the real reason I was there.  I was there to go to the Knitting & Stitching Show with my sister-in-law and her Mum.  Both of them are into stitching in a big way and have been my main influence in learning to stitch.  I've got to know my sister-in-law's Mum really well over the last few years through attending these types of shows, in fact she helped me choose my sewing machine, two years ago.  My sister-in-law, very kindly came to pick me up from and she drove from York to Leicester and then Leicester to York in the same day, with a 5 month old baby in the back!  She is a remarkable woman, my sister-in-law, I don't think I would want to do that.  As well as going to the show it was lovely to spend a few solid days with my family, as usually we have flying visits up North.

I had intended to blog about my shopping, at the show, a couple of days ago, but I caught a hideous cold when I was up North, probably at the Show!  I'm still feeling sorry for myself, but at least I can type semi-coherently.  To be honest it doesn't matter if I type drivel, you only want to see my goodies don't you ;-)

So here we are, first off I went to Twist Yarns, whom I have already bought from online.  They have a really interesting stock.  It was nice to see the gorgeous array of yarns there, and I indulged in some Skein Queen Oasis Grande, in Titanium.  It really is beautiful stuff.

Recently I have been really drawn to neutral shades.  I think because I know they can be worn with any outfit.  I have several scarves and shawls that I hardly ever use because they don't go with anything in my wardrobe, except the black or cream stuff.  I know this yarn will be wearable with everything.  It is a 4-ply/fingering weight yarn in 50% camel/50% silk and it weighs 100g with a 400m put up.  This yarn is so soft and dreamy I can't wait to get it on my needles.  I have no idea what it is going to be, but it will definitely be worn around my neck.

My only other yarn purchase was from knitting4fun, another online store, but this time it is one I've not used before.  I was sucked into the stand because of the lovely bright felting yarn they had, but the yarn I took away was a different beast altogether.

This is their own yarn and it is Baby Alpaca Chunky and it is unbelievably soft!  I love dark grey when it is a natural colour.  I only got two skeins which have 100m in each skein, but I 'm sure at the very least I can get a cowl out of that!  Again this yarn is going around my neck or on my head.

Next I bought some fabric.  I couldn't resist this pack of fat quarters.  I think it's from Michael Miller, but not all of the fabric has a selvedge with the name on it.

These are some of my favourite colours at the moment, grey, lime and aqua.  I HAD to buy the pack simply because it had all my favourites together.  Isn't it funny how you have very clear favourites for a period of time and then you move on all of a sudden.  A year or so ago I would have thought grey a very dull colour and not worthy of my attention.  Now, I love it.

The other stall I got a multiple set of fabric from was the Japanese Fabric stall (I'm not sure if that is what it is called, but it is a good a description as any).  There was a lovely little kit using some owl fabric.  I found a solitary fat quarter of the fabric and put it together with a nice contrasting shot fabric.  I will make my own bag from it.

I love the winking one the best!  From the same stall, I bought some navy fabric with bright turtles.  Again, I think this will be perfect for a project bag.

I will have to pair it with another fabric, but I think it will be easy enough to find a nice contrasting solid.  I just couldn't resist those tiny turtles.

My last fabric was another one that I wanted to get, just because it will make a fabulous project bag.

I know it's a bit twee but that naked sheep just really makes me giggle.

In a continuing sheep theme, I also scored a great button from The Button Lady, which as usual was many people deep.

It's about an inch and a half across and I couldn't resist it.  I've been thinking it would be a lovely adornment to a hat band, maybe on this pattern.

My final purchase was actually bought using my Christmas money from my Mum.  She has done this before, given me money before I go to the show so I can get something I really want for Christmas.  This year I found a doozy of a present!  I found a brand new product, to me anyway.  It is called a Bogway Handspinner.

This Dutch invention is a different method of producing yarn, one that I can actually do.  I was initially drawn to the stand by some lovely looking dyed fibre, that once again made me wish I could spin.  As I moved around the corner to see the stand properly I saw the stall holder spinning on what looked like a football rattle.  My eyes nearly popped out of my head, and when the stall holder saw my interest he came over to show me what he was doing.  He assured me that he had managed to get a lady on crutches using the device, so I should have no problem using it, given that I didn't have my arms tied up with helping me stand.  He was right, I could do it sitting down and I didn't have to lean forward, or sit really upright.  He assured me I could do it in practically any position, and I have to say he is right.  Of course I bought it, along with some of the yummy fibre that originally caught my eye.  If you are curious how it works, here is a video on YouTube of someone using it, though she is speaking Dutch.

The fibre I bought is German Romney dyed with Wilton Food Dyes.  It has lovely long sticky fibres that are making the spinning a breeze.  My new toy is wildly addictive, especially for a cold addled fool like myself.  I wouldn't trust myself to knit anything other than stocking stitch at the moment, so this is a great replacement activity for knitting.  I've nearly finished off all this fibre.

The spinning got faster as I went along and also thicker as I got a nice even draft going.  I have no idea what it is going to ply up like because the first ply is all over the place and the second one is more consistent.  Hopefully by Friday I will have my first Bogway yarn to show you!

Now I need to ask for advice.  I want to carry on hand spinning, so if you are spinners, please can you  recommend the sort of fibre I should try next?  I probably don't want anything too esoteric because I want to be able to buy enough to become more consistent in what I do, and I can't afford lots of money for yarn that may not be that usable when finished.  Oh, and remember I haven't got any carding equipment, nor would I have the strength or energy to prepare fibre even if I had the equipment, so I can't save money that way.

It is lovely to finally find a way to spin my own yarn.  I enjoyed using a drop spindle, but it was simply too uncomfortable for me to use.  The Bogway is just perfect for me.  Strangely enough, after getting home on Saturday, one of the magazines I subscribe to was waiting for me, with a picture and description of the Bogway in it!

I'm actually quite impressed with this little haul, because I stuck within my budget and didn't go overboard on all the lovely things at the show.  I could easily have spent an awful lot of money there, but I didn't.

So I hope you will excuse me whilst I go and ply my yarn, and if you want to look at some actual knitting, I recommend clicking on the button and taking a look there!

Another Monster Make

I'm making another monster from my book by Rebecca Danger, Big Book of Knitted Monsters.  This one is Baldwin the Bathroom Monster.  He is going to a be a Christmas present for another nephew, one who didn't get the last monster I made, Hugo the Couch Potato Monster.  This book is so full of fabulous characters it is hard to choose which monster to make, but this one, while similar is some respects to the first one, has lovely long arms.  I'm hoping that a 10 (nearly 11) year old won't be too old for a bathroom monster!

With this monster I have used the disappearing magic loop technique explained by TECHKnitting.  I have used the crochet version of this and like how it works, so I thought I'd give the knitting version a go.  It seems to work pretty well, and this is what it looks like.

It's pretty neat and I think once I've done it a few times more, I won't need to refer to the instructions anymore.

I'm using Cascade 220 Superwash, which is the same yarn I used for the previous monster, just in a different colourway, number 810 which is supposed to be teal, but I think looks more jade in colour.

It may be that it just looks jade to me because the light is so shocking at the moment.  We seem to have been covered in a grey blanket in the UK.  It's pretty normal for this time of year, but I think I blot it out to escape the trauma!  As you can see, I'm not very far on, but I don't think it will take that long to finish, but it will have to go on hold for a while.  I'm not taking it with me when I go away later on today, as I want something easy and mindless, so I think I will take the Nuvem.  The Nuvem doesn't look much different from the photos I've already shown you, so I'll leave it until I've motored on a bit more, probably when I'm back home.

My trip away is to the Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate and my sister- in-law is coming to pick me up for an extended visit up North.  Picking me up a couple of days before we go means I can recover from the journey and still go to the show with her and her Mum on Friday.  I'm really excited about my trip as I love the Show and I love seeing my family even more.  So if you see me being pushed around in a wheelchair at the Harrogate Show on Friday, stop me and say hello!

I'm linking this little update to WIP Wednesday at Tami's Ami's, so click the button to find some new and interesting blogs.

Continental and Combination or Combined Knitting

I decided to answer a question I received recently with a video (my first) and a list of other videos or links to other websites.  As my health is poor I did this in one take, so please excuse the weird hair, the strange gaps when my brain goes blank (because of all the painkillers) and the abrupt end of the video, which was because my phone rang! I would also like to inform you that my natural skin colour is not orange, and if you view this video on YouTube, there was something going on with the widescreen settings that I couldn't figure out, which makes my face look really wide.

If you have any questions please get in touch using the "How to Reach Me" options given in the right hand bar of this website.

When I first learnt to knit I started with the English Style of knitting,

And the English Style of purling.

Then I started teaching myself how to pick stitches, rather than throw them, and I used the following video.  It's a bit longer than the previous two, but it is quite informative and shows the difference between the way I started out knitting and purling and the Continental method. It also includes how to perform other stitches, such as yarn over, in this style too.

Next is Combined or Combination knitting.  Annie Modesitt explains how to purl using the Combination Style here.  Yes, it really is as simple as she makes out!  I like how this way of purling takes the yarn in the shortest way possible into becoming the next loop on the needle.  It is this action that increases row consistency.  Purling in this way has a small impact on how your stitches are orientated for your knit rows, but as these next video shows, it really is a small difference.  Here is how you do the purl stitch using the combined method.

This next video shows how it impacts your knit stitches.

This, of course, impacts the way you YO, SSK and K2tog.

Here is another video that tells you about it in a different way.  Sometimes different teachers make more sense.

I hope that these videos help you work out what is best for you.  If anyone finds any better/different explanations in video or tutorial form, please let me know and I'll add them to this page.  I'm going to put this post under the tutorials tab for future reference.

I've listed all of these video as a playlist on YouTube in case you want to favourite them.

I have a new hat!

It's true, I have a new hat.  It is lovely and green and has a peak!  It is my finished Camden Cap by Woolly Wormhead from Classic Woolly Toppers, that I told you about a couple of weeks ago.  This pattern is the one shown on the cover of the book, and is the main reason I bought it, though I also have my eye on at least one other pattern in the immediate future and other hats from it down the line.

The reason I wanted to make this hat is the peak.  The peak is also what caused me the only trouble in the pattern, and that was purely down to me not looking at the pattern properly.  If you make this pattern listen to me - READ IT PROPERLY BEFORE BLOCKING YOUR PEAK!  Public Service Annoucement over.

I blocked my peak in this shape.

What I should have done, is blocked it in a wider and more elongated shape, as is illustrated in the pattern by the shape of the template you should be cutting out.  It wasn't too much of a problem in the end, but I think the drawing the correct template outline would have been easier if the peak had been blocked in the right shape.

Once I got my plastic peak cut out of quilter's template plastic I then inserted it into the peak pocket.  I have to say, this is the fiddliest bit of the whole hat.  You knit the pocket together using a three needle bind off and the plastic constantly tries to escape while you are doing so.  Once this bit was done, however, the hat flew off the needles, which resulted in this:

I love the yarn I used, Malabrigo Rios in Lettuce.  It's not quite so soft as the Malabrigo Worsted, but it is superwash so it won't felt in the rain.

I really like the look of the twisted rib that is used throughout the hat, but it is forced apart on the band above the peak.  This is because of the insertion of additional stitches between the rib at the top of the band to make the body of the hat larger.  This means the band is less elastic and doesn't hug the head as much as I would like.  I am tempted to weave some elastic thread into the back of the band stitches, like I did here, to increase the grip around my head, as I don't want to loose my hat in a stiff breeze!

But apart from the slightly loose hat band, I love this hat.  It's a lively colour to cheer me up in the cold weather and it is light but warm.  Not only that, it keep the rain off my glasses, which, in my opinion, is very important in Winter.

It keeps my ears and head warm and it's quite flattering.  What more could a girl want in a hat?  I think next up I'm going to knit the Sumner pattern from this book.  I have some BabyLongLegs BooSock that will suit it nicely.

I think the beanie shape of Sumner will provide a nice contrast to the peaked Camden Cap, so I shall have a hat for all occassions this Winter.

To see other finished work, please click a button.

An addition to the frog pond

Yesterday I added something to the frog pond.  It made me sad and yet liberated at the same time.  The item I reduced to it's component parts was the Austin Hoodie I started in August 2011.  I had such high hopes for this lovely garment.  I had a lovely pattern and delicious yarn and it felt like it was all going so well.

So what went wrong?  I became a better knitter.  I left the project alone for nearly a year and I did a bit more, and then I picked it up again this week and I tried it on, because all I was missing was one sleeve and a hood Then I really looked at it, and I just wasn't happy with it.  The trouble i,s I started knitting this just after I started using Continental Style knitting and it caused quite uneven rows, which were glaringly obvious in the loose gauge this garment is knit in.  I tried to ignore it, but once I started using Combination knitting and my rows became all neat and even again, the big loops spread through the garment drove me insane.  I think because Debbie Bliss Rialto 4 ply is such a smooth yarn it didn't fluff up to fill the gaps, the way a less rounded yarn would.

I had hoped that blocking it would help, which it did, but not enough.  The hem was also a bit annoying.  It would not sit flat, despite the blocking.  I KNEW that would drive me cuckoo too.  Then the final straw is that I decided I didn't want another hoodie.  I find that they don't sit well under my Winter coat.  I never use any of the hoods I make because I always wear hats, which seems a waste of good yarn to me.  I decided that I wanted to use this very pretty wool for something else.  So for the first time I decided to frog something properly.  I got my Sunflower Swift out and started unravelling to make skeins.  I'm really pleased I did, because this yarn is very very kinked indeed.

This yarn is definitely in need of resetting. It's just a mass of curls.

It took several hours to unwind the garment and I have several very curly skeins left as a result of my endeavours. I tied them off to secure them, and now I will take my mass of yarn and soak and reset the skeins by drying under tension. I think in the case of this fine yarn, just weighting it with a coat hanger will be enough.

So now I have to find a garment to use this lovely yarn for. I have about 1800m of it, which should be enough for a decent sized cardigan or sweater. I've done an initial scan on Ravelry and not found much that works for me.  I may use it to knit a Laika without a hood, but part of me is just tempted to do a simple top town sweater made to my own measurements with maybe a simple lace pattern as an accent somewhere.  At least that way I would get something that worked for me.  It's a tough choice because this is quite special yarn and I don't want to waste it.  Any recommendations would be gratefully received!

An Autumn Day Out

This weekend my OH and I went to Bakewell to meet my Mum.  She had been down on a reconnaissance mission with one of her oldest friends, trying to find a venue for a reunion of their school friends.  They do it every few years, and this time they decided to stay in the Peak District, so the Northern contingent didn't have quite as far to travel this time.  My Mum lives in my home town of York which a good 2+ hours up the motorway and as I have been quite ill this year we have not visited as often as I would normally like. Having her an hour or so closer was wonderful and we arranged to spend a few hours together in Derbyshire, which was a treat, as I love that part of the world.

Mum was staying in Bakewell and we tracked her down in this lovely spot, just outside the front door of the B&B she was staying in.

When we left Leicester it was dismal and grey with rain spoiling our view of everything. You can see how lovely it was when we arrived an hour or so later. It was gorgeous, a proper Autumn day. The light was stunning.  It was the start of wonderful few hours standing in the most beautiful surroundings.

Bakewell itself is a very pretty little town, but it isn't very conducive to wheelchair use on a busy Saturday morning, nor did it have much parking near the main part of the town, even if you use a Blue Badge.  I know that to most people, the car parks are all pretty close to the main part of the town, but when you have limited mobility it was a long way away.  After some discussion we decided to go to Chatsworth House, which was just down the road.  It has an area of shops and restaurant that you can use even without going into the main house.  We thought it would be a small enough area for me to cope with.  We set off following my Mum.

Oh my, the drive there was stunning.  I wish I'd taken photos from the car, but I was enjoying just looking too much.  There were herds of deer wandering in the park, and the colours of the trees were warm and rich.  We missed the turn for the main house and ended up at the Farm Shop.  Even the car park for the farm shop was pretty.  You don't normally expect that.  They usually are muddy and bumpy places to drive through and park in!

This was a shop beyond any other farm shop I've ever used.  It was huge and filled with amazing fruit and vegetables, fresh meat and fish, fresh baked loaves of bread, MANY cheeses and much more!  It was an enormous deli type farm shop.  We bought some supplies for our evening meal and some fruit and veg and was surprised to have spent under £20.  Everything (that we bought) was quite reasonably priced.  I have a feeling, though, that if you wanted some of the sauces, dips and dressings, or the prepared meals or beer from the local micro-brewery then you could easily spend much more.  After our shop, we went to the Farm Shop restaurant. This is the view from the restaurant.

We were truly gobsmacked with the beauty of this location. It was awe inspiring to be surrounded on all sides by this magnificent countryside. We ended up staying at the Farm Shop and it's restaurant for the whole duration of our visit. We couldn't have chosen anywhere better to catch up.

It reminded us all that our countryside is very beautiful and we should get out into it more often. Just because I can't go walking anymore or go camping doesn't mean I can't enjoy the outdoors still. My OH and I have decided that we must get out of town more often and I plan on following up this decision. I'm going to research some good places to eat in lovely locations, so we can spend some time at least looking at the spaces in between cities, even if I can't stand in the middle of those spaces the way I want to.

It was a lovely day out and it was wonderful spending some time with my Mum.  More importantly it reminded me of something that used to be so important to me, the outdoors.  I'll try not to forget that again.

A Wee Hat

I actually have something FINISHED to show you!  It's just a wee hat, but it's sweet.  The pattern was from Knit Now, Issue 14.  It's called Jamie's Hats by Sarah Ronchetti.  I subscribe to this UK magazine, and one of the reasons I like it is the mainly quick knits, that is full of.  The patterns in this magazine don't require vast quantities of yarn and may allow me to use up odd bits of stash.  This particular pattern made me think of the left over Rico Design Baby Classic DK I had from knitting this:

I knit this little February Baby Sweater 2 years ago, and I loved the yarn, despite it being nylon and acrylic.  It's a very soft and pretty baby yarn and I thought it was perfect for my niece.  My sister in law had put in a request for a baby hat and the magazine gave me the perfect pattern to use.

I cast on using the Tubular Cast On tutorial from Woolly Wormhead.  When I got to the end, I couldn't be bothered to match the cast off, so each side of the hat is different.  I think next time I won’t do a fancy cast on unless I can finish off in a like manner.  Especially for this pattern, which was knit flat and then seamed.

The chart for the cables, in the magazine, is wrong. The wrong side rows have the knits and purls the opposite way round to what they should be.  It took me several minutes to work out what was wrong, even though it was staring me in the face.  Once I got it right in my head, it wasn't too bad, though I still managed to do the cabling wrong twice!  I haven't ripped it back and started again, as I don't think it is noticeable unless you are looking.  It's worked out to have one mis-cable on either side in approximately the same place, so in my book that's balanced.

One of the best things about this pattern is the pom poms.  I love the pom-poms I made using my Clover Pom-pom Maker. It’s so much faster and neater than cardboard.  If you are interested in how they work, there is a video here.  They turn out so much plumper too.

This was a quick and interesting little project that will be heading North over the weekend to keep my little niece's head snug and warm over the next couple of months.  I think I may try the plain version of the hat too.  I've got plenty of this baby yarn left over, in several different colours and I have a little baby in need of warmth over the Winter.

To see other finished projects click on a button!