Handspun: Magenta Merino/Silk

Amidst the lack of knitting lately, I did do a wee bit of spinning while I watched Geelong almost lose to the Sydney Swans. I started off fairly evenly, but as I squirmed in my chair thinking that Geelong was going to lose, my spinning became a little more haphazard. (ps. for those who don't live in Australia, I am referring to AFL or aussie footy).

Anyways, three skeins lately , I ended up with two at about DK weight, and one fat one at about worsted weight. This was my first time spinning up batts , and also my first time spinning a mix (merino / silk) and I quite enjoyed it . The silk was left unddyed so it came up in little flecks of white . Not quite tweedy, but interesting enough for me :)

I'm thinking I might make a little beanie/beret type hat out of it - as I do like a little bit of colour to brighten up the dull gray days!

Swimming in fruit punch

Apologies for the lack of posts lately! I've been a bit unsettled with the move and not having half my stuff with me, as well as having to head back out to site for a relief stint.

But in all honesty, there hasn't been much knitting. I've cast on for the Rose Shoulder Shrug but haven't made much progress. I also tried to do some sewing the other day but haven't made much progress there either because I forgot everything I learnt in class..

So, the only project photos I can show is some spinning..

The 22 micron merino was dyed in yellows, greens and pinks, in something that I like to call "Swimming in fruit punch".



It was then spun up as singles on my Majacraft Pioneer.


And to keep the colour runs intact, I navajo-plied it (first time). I'm quite pleased with the final outcome, though it is very yellow heavy. The navajo ply was fairly easy to understand, but I had a lot of yarn breakage as I had underspun it in several places.


In the end, I ended up with approximately 300 metres of between fingering and sportweight yarn. Think i'll make some colourful socks out of this one.. (i mean, what else would you make in something this cheerful?!)

Unsettling

Since coming back to Perth, I haven't had much motivation to do any spinning or knitting. There's something just not very inviting about not having all your wool, needles, yarn, magazines, patterns and books with you , and having everything packed in boxes because there is no room to put anything.

Moving back has been rather disruptive. I'm still trying to find my feet again , but I'm also about to head to site again tomorrow for 11 days to relieve someone on annual leave, so the whole process has become a bit of a headache.

I have however *tried* to get motivation. I picked up 10 balls of Jo Sharp DK Wool , 4 balls of something really interesting looking at Spotlight (hey, it cost me $7 after the 40% off so it can't be a total loss even if it does knit up terribly. It's one thread of wool twined with one thread of silvery stuff) and some DK weight charcoal merino wool which i'm thinking might be cute as a little vest for work.

I also bought a new Drum Carder and have done some tinkering with it, but no spinning. Maybe it's because I don't have all the comforts I'm used to having (ie. the big chaise lounge, the open space, the home theatre set up for me to spend hours in front of..) but I do hope to get the motivation back soon!

PS. I finished CPH, and sent it off to my pal and she's got it! Yay. Unfortunately I don't have any pics to show of the worn FO but i'll try and post an FO post shortly.

PPS . Sorry about the mess of a blog at the moment. I accidentally deleted my layout, and hastily grabbed another one but the alignment and links are all wrong. I will fix it up when I get back from site.

Spinning yarns

A little bit of spinning that I did last week but wasn't able to photograph because the weather was so bad, and because the yarn was out to dry.

#1: Terracotta became this:

Singles Yarn

100% Merino

Approximately 127 metres to the skein, 50grams

Thick and thin still (still trying to get consistency!) , but average of 14wpi, or fingering weight

#2: Strawberry Jam became this:

Singles Yarn

100% Merino

Approximately 178 metres to the skein, 80grams

Thick and thin still, but approx 13wpi (sport weight).

I didn't like this one when I first dyed it, but it has grown on me. Plus, it's super soft!

New play toys

I love receiving parcels - even if it's me paying for them and expecting them! There's something exciting about opening up the package to see if what you've purchased is exactly what you thought it would be .

I came home the other night to a whole lotta new things to play with :

3 new books: "Start Spinning" by Maggie Casey, "Teach yourself visually Hand-Dyeing" by Barbara Parry, and "The intentional Spinner" by Judith McCuin-MacKenzie

Inwood - Smith Handcarders, 90ppsi

Ashford Competition Lazy Kate - I found out that the Ashford LK was able to fit the Majacraft bobbins (normal and jumbo) , was tensioned, and was a lot cheaper too!

1kg of Chocolate Coloured Finnx fleece from a hobby spinning farm in Adelaide

And this is what I did with my handcarders .. turned roving into rolags..

Spin spin spin

My first handspun , all plied and set: 100% Merino 21micron, thick and thin, dyed a spotchy red, 76.5 metres from 100grams (dismal spinning effort). But my first all the same .. :)

And this is what that Terracotta dyed fibre is spinning up like:

It's interesting - I dont like multicoloured items at all.

I've always hated the variegated yarns that i've seen - i mean, they're pretty, but what are you going to make from them besides socks? So I've found it particularly interesting that I've enjoyed spinning multicoloured fibres. Will I ever knit anything out of them? Probably not, but I do enjoy the randomness of the colours that come up, and the way the singles work up. And after all, isn't this what venturing into a new hobby is about ? Getting out of your comfort zone, exploring new things, and doing something you've never done before! I think so.

Sneak peaks

(Not going to type up a long post because my internet connection keeps dropping in and out for some reason)...

I've finally managed to have my first proper play with my new spinning wheel. I spun up a bobbin worth of pure merino and it's currently outside setting its twist. In the meantime, I decided to spin up my horridly (muted) hot pink hand dyed roving and from this..

I got this...

And on the knitting front... I've finished both sleeves of Thao's Central Park Hoodie and am now starting on the back piece. (Promise I'll finish before winter is over Thao! hehe).

New toy

Guess what arrived at lunch time today?

All flat packed from New Zealand...

3 Bobbins coming from the box...

All the bits and pieces... putting together the Pioneer Wheel

.. Outside with its coat of wax (the wax smelled of lemon meringue. I wanted to eat it)

... Playtime soon .. !

Spindling

On my recent trip to Perth for work purposes, I was able to pop into BilbyYarns, a little store in Myaree and have a wonderfully long chat to the proprietor, June Lynn. From my understanding, Bilby Yarns is the storefront for the Melanian Sheep Society, and all the fleece, fibres and yarns in there are locally produced and made. June was a delight, extremely helpful and obliging in my millions of questions about spinning, roving, fleece, everything - something that all LYS should have ;)


The main purpose for me popping into Bilby Yarns was to talk / research / buy a spinning wheel. Bilby Yarns stocks Ashford spinning wheels and associated accessories, and also has on consignment, several second hand wheels. At the time I was there, there was a Dutch Flax (i think?) and a locally WA handmade wheel. June let me treadle on these (as well as the Ashford Joy and Ashford Kiwi) while I got the feel for it.


In the end, I didnt buy a wheel. The kiwi was fairly limited in what it could do for me, and the Joy, while portable and therefore fantastic for my lifestyle (perth to kalgoorlie to leinster and anywhere in between), was also very limited in what it could do. I have however, ordered a new Majacraft Pioneer wheel, which I'm hoping to get today or tomorrow via the courier.




I did however come out with an Ashford spindle, some roving / tops (i dont know the difference yet) and a brand new wool winder. My last wool winder was not aligning properly so i figured it was time for a new one.


Taking it home, my first day of spindling was disastrous. I had high hopes of being a natural spinner (teehee) but alas, all i could produce was horribly overspun, undrafted, yarn barf. The next day however , something clicked and the drafting seemed effortless, and the results much better. Still overspun, and a long way to go but i'm rather pleased with my first efforts !

Time for a new craft?

Thank you for your comments on my recent "search for snugness" post re: looking for a nice snuggly winter coat. While i'm hoping to knit at least two for the winter, I have decided that one of them would be Wenlan Chia's Bulky Coat from Vogue Knitting.

I have always loved Wenlan's aesthetic and have enjoyed her previous knitting books. That said however, I have never knitted anything of hers up. For one, I worry about how the bulkiness of her knits would look on me (i'm fairly petite so I dont want to look 1- Like i'm swamped and 2- Like i'm gained 10 kgs overnight in all the wrong places). But i figured that the bubble coat was "bubbly" enough to look as if it was meant to be slouchy, oversized, and something to be deliberately gobbled up in. So, dilemma 1 solved. Now for dilemma Two. Subbing for Twinkle Soft Chunky.

I have done a whole heap of research into possible subs for Twinkle Soft Chunky and have found suggestions including:

• Brown Sheep Burly Spun
• Rowan Big Wool
• Plymouth Yukon
• Cascade 128
• Cascade Bollicine Revolution

However, on inspecting the gauge instructions, none of them was suitable (too small).

According to Webs, Soft Chunky knits up at 1 st per 1 " or 4sts per 4". That's a FAT yarn.

So i thought, hey, why not get 3 or 4 strands of something smaller and swatching? So i tried 3 strands of worsted weight yarn that I had in my stash (but am not necessarily going to use on this project), and it gave me 8 sts per 4". Then I tried 4 strands and it gave me 7 sts per 4".

Just how FAT is this yarn?

Well, 6 strands of yarn gave me 4sts per 4" that's how fat. While the calculations aren't exact, that's almost 72 ply of yarn (metric)! That's a whole lot of yarn.

So then I went this way, and that way.. and in the end i thought "what if i spun my own yarn"? Yes , I'm considering buying a spinning wheel. Of course, for such a big outlay of cash, I'd need to research it a little bit more.. But the idea of being able to spin my own yarn to the colours and consistency that I want it to be is just too exciting!