Fondant Fibre Organic Merino

I am so behind on my blog posts, I don't know if I'll ever catch up. I apologise for my disappearance over the last few weeks. My absence is because of changing the format of my podcast. I am moving over from audio to video and it has required a lot of my brain power and energy as there are many different things you need to set up in order to record, edit, process and upload a video podcast as opposed to an audio one. I think I'm nearly there on getting all my ducks in a row and that has left me a little more time and energy to get back to my beloved blogging. If you are interested in checking out my video exploits just click on the podcast button at the top of the website or check out my YouTube channel where you can subscribe to the videos. If you subscribed to my audio podcast you should be getting video updates in the same way.

Whilst on the subject of blogging in general, I'd just like to say thank you to everyone who messaged me about my 6th blogging anniversary. I still can't believe I reached this milestone and I wouldn't find it half as pleasurable if you didn't read and comment on the posts.

A piece of spinning, that I finished some time ago, used some gorgeous fibre from Fondant Fibre. It was organic merino fibre and the colourway was Inked.

I was really attracted to the colourway of this top and that is why I bought it, rather than buying it for the base. This was the first time I'd used this fibre and I have to say I am SOLD! It is gorgeously soft and bouncy the way all merino should be, BUT, it has more texture. If you are a beginner spinner this would be a great entry into spinning merino. Merino is not an easy fibre to spin because it is so slippery, but this fibre has more grip and therefore is a dream to spin.

As all the colours blended so well I decided just to spin the yarn end to end, worsted style, and not worry to much about colour management. I used my Enid Ashcroft Bocote Tibetan Spindle.

This spindle is a pleasure to use and has great balance. Combining the spindle with this fibre made this such a fun project. I cannot express how much of a pleasure it was to spin without much forethought and to go just end to end without any pre-drafting, because it wasn't needed.

As always, I made two plying balls with half the singles on each, and then created a plying ball with the the two singles held together. I don't mind this hand winding of a plying ball as it helps even out the tension and twist, which makes it easier to ply.

I often use my Wildcraft Support Spindles to ply on, as the carbon fibre shafts are long and thin which means you can pack a LOT of plied yarn on it. It means that I can get roughly 50g of finished yarn on the spindle, sometimes more and sometimes less.

I have to say that the video download The Gentle Art of Plying, has really helped to transform the way that I ply my yarn. The whole video is taught using a spinning wheel but nearly all the information was relevant to using a spindle. It really helped to see the close ups of what the yarn looks like when singles are put together and twist added. Seeing how all the singles look before and after plying really was informative.

I soaked the finished yarn for 20 mins, squeezed it out and then gave it a few quick "snaps" before hanging it up to dry. This yarn feels even and the plying is balanced. This means the yarn is bouncy and soft and I can't wait to knit it.

I got 289m/316yds of a sport weight yarn, which is a reasonable yardage. I like to try and find projects to match up with my handspun yarn when possible. I've been thinking that I could probably get something small out of this; a hat, mitts, cowl or small shawlette. I think a really basic hat that would show off the yarn would be Simple by Alicia Plummer. It's a lot like the Sockhead Hat (of which I have three!).

© AliciaPlum

I might just use this pattern as inspiration, and do something different with the brim, maybe a folded stocking stitch brim, as I have a bit more yarn than is required for this pattern.

© Caitlin Hendrick

In terms of mitts, I really like Loch Lomond by Kendra Hope. I think these simple and elegant mitts would really show the yarn off. My only worry is that a loosely spun, 2-ply merino yarn may not stand up to the rigors of being worn on the hands. They are very pretty mitts though, so I'm really tempted.

© 2012, Heidi Haywood

The Leaf Lace Neck Wrap by Heidi Haywood looks like a nice straight forward and fun little shawlette that is more like a scarf. It would be gorgeous to wear this yarn around my neck and this pattern would let me do it.

It's tough to decide, but I will try and narrow it down from these three choices. Who knows, I might end up adapting one of the ideas from these patterns and doing something similar, but not identical. I'll let you know, eventually, which direction I take with this yarn. Until it's knitted, however, it is definitely a squishable and pettable skein of yarn.

Antarktis in Countess Ablaze Geeks Like Rainbows Too Handspun Yarn

If you follow me on Instagram, Twitter or my Facebook Page you will have seen a photo yesterday. It was a photo I was sooooo proud of. It's really hard to take photographs of yourself on a timer, even when you are healthy, so to get a few half way decent shots is something that makes me happy. When I get a photo that is good, I jump around inside my head whooping for joy. I don't do it outside my head because my body would scream in rebellion, but inside my head is fine.  The photo in question is this one:

I love this photo because it shows the wonderful gradient effect of this handspun yarn. The yarn was spun from Countess Ablaze Superwash Merino in the Geeks Like Rainbows Too colourway. I talked all about the spinning here. I am so pleased I chose this pattern. It is perfect for this yarn. Antarktis by Janina Kallio was a pattern I first saw on the We Are Yarn podcast. Amanda (the host) had used the pattern and I think she used handspun yarn. It stuck in my head so that when I saw this yarn I knew it would work. The pattern is knit on the bias and uses garter stitch and basic eyelet lace in panels to increase the amount of shawl you get for your yarn.

Look how much shawl you get for 400m of yarn! One of the instructions in the pattern is to "block like you mean it", which really made me smile, and I took the instruction to heart. This shawl can be worn around my shoulders and actually feels like it can keep me warm. Most shawls that use a single skein of sock weight yarn are usually more like scarves than shawls.

In fact, I've been using it quite a bit since finishing it because it is the perfect size to just cover the tops of my arms when it's a little cooler in the morning and evening.

The pattern starts with the tip and it increases faster on one edge than the other to give the bias shape. The top edge of the shawl is nicely elastic as there is a yarn over inserted on one side, which is dropped on the other. This elasticity makes it easier to block firmly.  You can see this edge at the bottom of the shawl in the photo below.

When starting this pattern, you should remember to actually read through to the end, like the pattern tells you to, AND make sure you understand those instruction or you will go wrong , like I did.  I missed out a whole section that needed repeating. I had to rip back a couple of hours work. So my recommendation is to read the pattern, and make notes so you remember what you learnt when reading it, so you don't mess up a few days later!

Once I'd got myself back on track, I stuck to the pattern as written, except for the bottom section of the shawl. I added an extra garter stitch panel between the last two eyelet sections of the shawl. In the pattern, the bottom panel follows the previous one without break. When I reached the start of the last section I knew I had a lot of yarn left over and wanted to use as much of this lovely gradient as possible, so I inserted the extra panel.

I think that the extra panel is more aesthetically pleasing, and I think with this particular yarn it was preferable to add more of the hot pink, to help balance the colours better.

I could not be happier with this shawl. It's a very useful size but it is nice and light and it drapes beautifully. It can be used as a shawl or as a scarf, which means it will get used all year round. This makes me extra happy because these colours lift my heart so much. It is almost impossible to keep a straight face when looking at this shawl. It just makes me want to smile whenever I see it. I've been smiling a lot!

PS Thank you for indulging me in my need to share many of the photos I took of this lovely project. I wanted to post them all, but I felt that would be over-egging the pudding just a little bit too much!

More Gradient Gorgeousness

Well, there was quite a positive response to the blog post concerning my Countess Ablaze spinning, I thought I'd give everyone a quick update.

I have actually started knitting Antarktis with this gradient yarn. I should warn you with this pattern, it tells you to read the pattern all the way through before beginning. Make sure you not only read it, but understand it. I didn't and got waaaaay off track and had to rip a good thirty rows out.

However, I'm nearly back to where I was before the ripping incident, and this is what it is beginning to look like.

It doesn't look like much so far, but I have high hopes!

Countess Ablaze Fibre Spun Up

There is no secret about my love of all things Countess Ablaze. Lyndsey is one of my favourite yarn dyers and she's a lovely person. She also creates lovely hand dyed fibre.

This braid of fibre is the Baby It's Cold Outside colourway and is made up of 48% Merino, 26% Bluefaced Leicester (BFL),  12% Alpaca and 12% Bamboo. This blend of fibre is soft and warm with an interesting variation in the way the dye is taken by the bamboo.

For this spin I decided to use my new Spanish Peacock Tibetan spindle. The long shaft of the spindle means that more singles can be loaded up onto it, before they have to be wound off and stored. This meant I could do a true 3-ply construction, easily fitting a third of the fibre onto the shaft each time.

As you can see in the above photo, I did pre-draft the fibre a little, because I had the fibre in storage for six months (at the bottom of my fibre bag). It probably didn't need pre-drafting, but I find it quite satisfying anyway, so nothing was lost by doing so.

I spun the fibre worsted style and when it was plied together I got a round and bouncy DK weight yarn. I do love how a 3-ply construction evens out the variations in the singles.

There is an incredibly subtle barber-pole effect in this yarn. The colours of the fibre are so close in value and hue that from a distance there is no difference in the colours on each ply of the yarn.

The different colours will give a lovely depth to whatever is knit from this delicious yarn.  It feels soft and silky to the touch, but still has plenty of bounce. I think it would probably make an ideal hat, smooth on the skin, and warm on the head!

This skein measures 154m/168yds in length, so I'm sure most hats will be achievable with this yarn. Do you have any suggestions for a pattern, because once again, my fingers itch to cast on.

Demiluna in Handspun Yarn

I told you a few weeks ago about a project I had started, Demiluna by Lhevinne Amor. The project is finished, so I thought I'd talk a bit more about the project and why I chose it.  The shawl used the lovely yarn that I spun from Fondant Fibre rolags.

The yarn was 348m/380yds in length and 4-ply/fingering weight. It had a 2-ply construction which meant it would show lace stitches well. However, the slightly fuzzy nature of a yarn spun in a woolen style and comprising Alpaca, Bluefaced Leicester, Mohair, Shetland and Silk, meant that a complex lace pattern would probably get lost. I spent a long time looking for a pattern that would suit the yarn construction, the weight of yarn and the yardage and the Demiluna looked to be ideal, having large sections of stocking stitch to show off the subtle variegation of the yarn and enough eyelets to be interesting.

The shawl is semi-circular in shape and uses the Elizabeth Zimmerman pi-shawl formula, a little like my Lily's Slice of Pi shawl pattern, though this one is on a smaller scale. As well as the increase rows, this shawl has rows of yarn-overs followed by knitting two stitches together to create an even spread of eyelets throughout the shawl.

The edging of the shawl was the part of the project I liked the least. I don't like doing broken rib, especially when the purl stitches in the ribbing increase in number. It's very hard to work out where to purl from the wrong side of the pattern, I find. I'd much rather do the ribbing on the right side of the work and then purl straight across the wrong side. I'd forgotten about that when I started, so unless I wanted to rip back the few rows I'd already done, I was stuck with doing it the way the pattern was written. Despite my loathing of actually knitting the border, I really like the way it finishes off the shawl.

The shawl itself is shawlette size. It sits nicely around the neck and would work beautifully as an evening shawl in the Summer over a lightweight dress, as it falls just over the edge of the shoulders.

I am really pleased with this project, as it is the first shawl I have knit with my handspun yarn. It's so satisfying seeing the yarn, you created, turned into a fully fledged accessory. It's really no wonder that knitting this project really fired up my enthusiasm for spinning, even more than before!

Squishy Yarn

I have good news, I can start spinning for the Stitched Together SAL (#STSAL2014).  I have cleared my favourite spindle and I have found a bag that fits my punis, so they can lay nice and flat, whilst waiting to be spun.  Have you seen Nic's Knots, Karrie Bags?  It turns out that these bags are the perfect width for my Fondant Fibre punis to lie flat in!

The above photo shows my Karrie Bag.  All my punis, along with all my lovely spinning things, fit inside with room to spare.

As you can see from the above photo, I have started playing around with the punis, to see what I should make with the fibre.  I'm still not sure.

Of course, you are probably interested in the yarn that arose from my need to free up my favourite spindle. It is gorgeous!  I already told you about how I made a decision about how to spin this yarn, the Fondant Fibre MCN Nests.  All the preparation really paid off.  It's completely reinforced the lesson of why you should spend some time making samples in order to get the yarn you want.

I am delighted with this yarn.  By the way, have you seen Daisy Bun Boo Designs bags?  I bought a couple this week, and one of the bags (the Extra Large version) was perfect for storing my part finished yarn, whilst wound on my niddy noddy.

It is an enormous bag, and I was delighted I had found something to protect my half finished yarn.  It's very nicely made, with pretty fabric, both outside and in.  Can you see the dainty spotted lining in the above photo?  The circular base of the bag is reinforced with interfacing, which helps give the bag shape, and will hopefully protect the fabric on the base of the bag, a bit better than leaving it un-supported.

When I bought the bag, I didn't realise quite how big it was, and I intended to use it for larger projects, such as my sock yarn blanket, but when I saw it, I knew I had to try putting my niddy noddy in it.  I couldn't believe it fit so well, that I could secure the elastic draw-string closure on the bag, without pulling.

I always put my plyed yarn on the niddy noddy as I wind it off the spindle, to make room on it to ply the rest of the singles. I then tie the end of the yarn, already wound on to the niddy noddy, to the end of yarn, newly spun on the spindle, and continue to wind it on to the niddy noddy.  That way I end up with only one skein to block and store.  The knot is easily dealt with when it comes to knitting it up.

After the spinning was complete, I soaked the finished yarn for 30 mins in a warm basin of Euclan.  I had to rinse the yarn several times as there was a little bit of bleeding, which often occurs with deeper coloured, hand dyed yarn or fibre.  I then put my hands inside the loop and widened my hands until the yarn was taut and then snapped the yarn a few times, by drawing my hands a little closer together and then widening them back out again quickly, to help even the twist a little.  I decided not to thwack this soft and delicate yarn.

I am very happy with the results of all my preparation.  It is a worsted 2-ply construction.  I got 350m of 3-ply/light fingering weight yarn.  I think it has to be one of the best meterage I've ever got in my hand spinning. The yarn is generally consistent, though there are a few areas where the sections are either too thick or too thin.  For the most part, these sections are in the minority.

Of course, now I have this lovely, squishy yarn, I want to play with it.  I am desparate to knit it into something so I can wear it.  My instincts are leading me towards a shawlette, but of course an infinity scarf or moebius cowl could work too.  Basically, I want to wear this ever-so soft yarn around my neck somehow. There are a few patterns that sort of could work but I haven't found anything that jumps out at me.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  I really want to use every single scrap of this lovely yarn.

I may end up swatching and then making it up as I go along.  Who knows, this could end up inspiring a new pattern!

Test Knitting Determination

Over the last month I did a bit of test knitting for my friend Elly of Elly's Knit Insanity.  Elly has a video podcast in the UK and she also has health issues, so we are able to understand each other a little better than most.  Elly asked me to test knit one of the series of patterns she has been working on and I was delighted to be able to help.

The pattern is a cabled hat and it is called Determination.  I started out doing the pattern in Rowan DK and was only able to get a couple of rubbish snaps on my camera phone before passing it on to my Dad who does like the hats I make him.  I liked the pattern so much I decided to make another one and keep it for myself this time.  I was able to use some of my handspun yarn, which was a treat, as I've not used much of it, so far.

The yarn I used, was spun from a Hilltop Cloud blend called Mallard.  I spun the fibre in the Tour de Fleece this Summer and I really like how bouncy and soft it is.  It is a DK weight and I had more than enough yardage  for the project, as I had a total of 184m. The fibre is 62% merino/25% BFL/13% baby alpaca which makes for an interesting texture and the bounce seemed perfect for cables.

I used the alternating cast on, described by Liz Corke, which gives a nice elastic edge and is simple to do and has become my preferred method of performing a ribbed cast on.

The cable chart is nice and straight forward without being boring and I whizzed through the hat in no time flat. It was lovely knitting with this handspun yarn and I love how the blended fibres transform the resulting knitted fabric into something multidimensional, rather than a flat solid colour produced by block dyed fibre or yarn.

I used 3.75mm needles to get a fabric I liked, as I have a loose gauge, and did three repeats of the chart. The resulting hat is quite a nice fit on my 21.5" head, as it is not tight, but will not fly off either.  I decided that as I had lots of yarn left over from the knitting of my hat, I would use the remainder to make a pom pom.

I used a Clover Pom-Pom Maker and it took less than 10 minutes to make this very plump and beautiful pom pom.  I love this clever little gadget and have several sizes.  As soon as I had sewn on the trimmed pom pom, I knew it had been the right thing to do.  This lovely fat pom pom sets off the rest of the hat beautifully.

The pattern is available for immediate purchase and download, on Ravelry for £2.50.  It's a lovely hat, which I enjoyed knitting, and love wearing.  I may well knit up another one is a bolder colour next time, but I still love how the handspun yarn looks and think that the pattern shows it off excellently.  I really must find some more patterns to show off my growing pile of handspun yarn! Does anyone have any suggestions?

Tour de Fleece 2013

I think I might have mentioned that I wasn't going to take part in the Tour de Fleece.  I thought I'd maybe spin a bit without bothering to post photos and join in with the chat on Ravelry.  It's why I've not really talked about it on the blog.  If you've never heard of this spinning challenge that takes place alongside the Tour de France, then you are probably not a spinner.  I mentioned my decision not to take part on Yarn Raising's Ravelry board and Melia told me that there were amazing prizes for taking part and it was well worth just posting a photo every now and again.  So finding out I didn't need to post photos every day meant I somehow managed to end up joining the Rookies Team and Team Hilltop Cloud, because that is the fibre I'm currently spinning.

So here is today's progress, which I did whilst watching the start of the Tour de France kick off.  It's great that ITV4 has got such good coverage and I'm sure I will get to watch a lot of the race during the next few weeks.  I don't know much about road racing, but I hope to pick up a lot as I watch.

I feel like my spinning is definitely improving and I think that monitoring it over the course of the Tour will show me how I'm doing.

To accompany my spinning, I have decided to cast on a project that uses some of the handspun I've already made.  I have heard that it is better to knit your handspun yarn as soon as possible, because as you improve your technique, the less you enjoy knitting up the early yarn!  So, I have cast on the lovely coloured Beach yarn that I spun from The Yarn Yard Superwash BFL.

The pattern I have chosen is from Knitty, First Fall 2012.  The pattern is Unleaving by Lee Juvan.  It is a pattern that is designed for handspun yarn and is a narrow shawl that is knit sideways, in garter stitch with a lace panel down one side.

I have managed 3 repeats of the chart so far.

After knitting this small amount, I can see why people suggest knitting early handspun yarn soon after it is spun.  This yarn is very loosely plied.  It's actually an education knitting this yarn, because I can see what I did wrong with it.  The lose plying means that the strands are not bound tightly enough to each other and it is very easy to split the yarn and it will be easily damaged.  However, it is still rather wonderful to be knitting something from my handspun yarn, and each time I do it, I will learn more.

I am not planning on updating each day with my Tour de Fleece progress, but I'm hoping when I do I don't bore the non-spinners too much ;-)