Spinning Against The Tide

BusyBusy!

2011-11-29T11:09:00.000-08:00

I can hardly believe I have been quite this productive since I last posted, I really need to make time to post more often! This first scarf is a bit of a cheat, well it was made before the scarf in the last post, but I didn't get any photos of it. The yarn is a cashmere mix and the skein was just a tangled mess when it was given to me, I spent months untangling it, I used to carry it in my knitting bag!

This is the first woven cowl I have made, the warp was a real mix of colours and I did the same with the yarn as I wove, I didn't bother using a shuttle as I changed colour every 2-3 rows.

This second cowl is a mix of green and purple with a little black sparkle and some sari silk!

These are my handspun thrummed mittens. I was knitting them last December, but they were thrown by the wayside in January just needing some thumbs, so I finished them last Friday, just in time for the fashion show at Guild!

New Scarf!

2011-11-04T13:43:00.000-07:00

Ok so here is what the warp looked like, there was a range of yarn from sock to chunky and a bit of everything, mohair, alpaca/silk, bamboo tape, linen, wool, etc.

Here is Maddox modelling the finished scarf!

I have no hope of doing NaBloNoMo....or blogging everyday at the moment, I would like to post at least once a week, it's just not quite happening yet, although I'm not beating myself up over it!

I'd like to do a bit of spinning next, although I still have a sweaters worth of wool looking at me from my basket...always so much to do....so little time!

Dynamic View?

2011-10-07T13:26:00.000-07:00

Every time I come to Blogger something has changed, I'm not necessarily complaining about change, it's just one of those things, when I logged in they were offering me a 'Dynamic View' it looks good, modern, different, although I'm not sure it will allow me to change colours and things and that leaves it a little too clinical for my tastes! Facebook is another place that likes to keep you on your toes changing things. Sometimes the best changes are the ones that happen without you noticing.

I am still weaving my little squares, I have over 180 now, although I have rethought the colourway. I decided I liked the blues/greens/grey of the Kureyon Sock so much that I would make a blanket with just those balls, but I had already made 122 squares in other shades of Kureyon Sock, so these will either be made into another throw, or divided up into cushion covers or something. I have just discovered that the shade I am using has been discontinued, but I only need 2 more balls and it's not too difficult to get hold of just yet.

I have booked a stall at a local Christmas Craft Fair which is on the first Saturday in December. I am not going mad making things....I still have a few woven scarves and some handspun yarn ready to go, but I have got the loom out of storage to start work on a few more things. The scarf above is the first I have woven with a pattern stick. The yarn was dyed by my friend Clare Dunn at Nimu (she is busy at the Knitting & Stitching Show at the moment). This ball was a tangled skein she gave me, it took me several weeks, months even to detangle, but I'm so glad I did, it looked great on the loom! It's off the loom now and waiting for a wash and finish!

I've got another scarf on the loom now, it was going to be a woven Mobius, until I realised I was weaving it vanilla (plain) and it needed to be woven 'stripey' as the end of the warp gets twisted and woven back in....the trouble was I had woven quite a bit when I realised, I tried to add some stripes of colour but because I am using a range of yarns from sock to chunky, they didn't work very well together as weft. In the end I had to unweave what I had done and re-tie the warp and start again. I may try the Mobius on my next warp once I have a good root through the stash and see what I am going to use!

I will try to get back into the habit of blogging now that I'm back and making things again! Isn't November Blog everyday month? Have just been to investigate, and found a place where you can be supported to blog every day any month you like, I will think about it!

Manic Monday!

2011-06-27T13:09:00.000-07:00

Ok so I didn't manage a weekly post last week, nevermind, sometimes weeks with a baby around pass in a blur!

I have been beavering away on my squares, so much that I have just finished another ball of greens, just a few ends to sew in. I might get around to taking a new photo of some of them laid out at some point, I will have to start laying them on the bed, almost 150 squares now.

Maddox will be 20wks old tomorrow, he has been rolling over in his cot occasionally for a few weeks, and turning his upper body around to reach for things but today he managed to finally turn himself right over on the floor, and then proceeded to keep going!

He has also started sucking his thumb, Neo never did this, I think it's sooo sweet:

He is also enjoying his food now that we have started weaning!

Square Eyes!

2011-06-13T13:00:00.000-07:00

Well yes it is about time I got back to this blogging business. The 7th of Feb was my last post and the day after, well in the early hours of the 8th Feb as most of my facebook and ravelry friends will already know, I did give birth to Maddox James Reilly:

So he's now 4 months!

When I do have a little down time I am still weaving 4 inch squares. I have woven 120 so far and have just started my 5th ball of Noro Kureyon sock.

Pictured is 2 balls, I've added a ball in shades of brown, and a ball with a mix of colours with a little urple since then.
I don't know what I'm going to find to blog about apart from Maddox and a few more woven sqares but I will try and make an effort to post something on a weekly basis!

OVERDUE!!!

2011-02-07T13:23:00.000-08:00

Well not unexpectedly I have now reached my due date and am counting the days hoping the bump will arrive before the medical profession insist on inducing me! Neo was 2 weeks late, infact he was due 4th Jan 2004 and arrived on the 18th, so this baby could be here any time between now and the 19th Feb.

Infact Rosanna has started a Stork Pool in the limegreenjelly ravelry forum, whoever guesses closest to the day. Strangely enough my mum had all four of us on Thursdays!

So apart from gazing into space, moving into my new home, washing baby things and preparing for the new arrival I have been doing a little knitting and spinning. Infact I finished some singles last night and did some chain plying today.

I haven't had much of a knitting mojo of late but I did start some handspun thrummed mittens just before Christmas. I just need to stitch up the top of one and then pick up and do the thumbs, although it looks like we may have seen the last of the freezing weather.

They'll be able to keep my handies warm next winter while I'm pushing the bump around!

Still Here!

2010-12-13T11:06:00.000-08:00

I'm still here, now 32 weeks pregnant so if Baba Jelly does decide to arrive on time that's 8 more weeks! Last February we saw alot of white stuff. I am hoping that all the white stuff stays out of the way around my due date for obvious reasons, in the recent white out several babies were born in cars on route to hospitals and birthing centres.

Every year the Front Row Fashion Show is held in Hastings and they have a Charity Shop Challenge where you spend £10 or less on garments from Charity Shops and then re-make them into an outfit. This year I finally got it together and entered this dress made from ties and an old leather jacket!

I've also been doing a little more weaving on my mini weaving square, I've been using Noro Sock and Noro Silk Garden Sock, I did get 29 squares from my first ball used double, and now I'm using a different colourway and introducing a few new colours. It is a long term project I keep picking up from time to time, as I want about 300 squares for a decent size throw!

I have finished my handspun Annis, although I haven't managed to get a photo of it yet. I've also been spinning steadily away on my sweater scraps yarn. I wanted to get the yarn spun before the baby arrives. I have 600g spun which I washed and measured last week to see how it was going. 500g is all about the same and I measured 1,702 metres, this actually averages out at 340 metres per skein and is enough for me to start on a sweater. I have a skinny 100g which is much finer than the other 5, but may work when I've done some swatching and finalised the design. I have another 200g left to spin but since I think I have enough yarn already I'm not going to start on it yet!

100 Days To Go!

2010-10-28T10:31:00.000-07:00

100 days to go, and it's about bloody time I updated the poor neglected blog!

There has been a little knitting....and frogging going on.
I started another Clapotis, much as I love the first one I made in the Silk Garden it is quite heavy so I thought I would make a more colourful option in silk garden sock, although I wasn't happy with the way it was going so I frogged it. Maybe I'll stripe it with a similar yarn for a different effect.

I realised at the last Kent Guild meeting that I still hadn't made anything for this years Guild Fashion Show which will be the last Saturday in November so I had a little look through my Ravelry favourites and picked out the Annis Shawl. Then I balled up the camel/silk I had spun for the 800yard Challenge and cast on, well attempted the cast on....at least 3 times before I went back to Ravelry and had a little read up on it, then it sat around for 2 more weeks waiting for me find the time to do the crochet chain for a provisional cast on.

Finally got it done last week, although had to frog and restart when I decided the 5mm needles were going to make it too big....I'm on 4mm needles now and almost finished, but worrying that I should have used 4.5mm instead......not going to be able to tell now till I've finished the short rows....which are becoming quite long and tedious!

Maybe I should stick to spinning, I'm still slowly working on the Scraps Yarn for my sweater project. Part of me is in no hurry to finish, because it probably won't be a sweater I wear this year, over the ever expanding body. I was going to upload the latest (25 week) bump shot, unfortunately although the photo appears up the right way on my computer, the new photo widget is turning it landscape so I look like the Himalayas. You can see it my my 'Mind The Bump' set on flickr where I have been documenting the bump as it grows.

I will try to be a better blogger, and come back soon, this will be dependant on me actually having something worth blogging about....like a shawl....although since I have just given another pair of handwarmers away I may have to start knitting some more, I can't possibly go wrong with handwarmers now can I!

MIA and news from the other side!

2010-08-15T03:52:00.000-07:00

Instead of coming back every week, like I had hoped to I seem to have been Missing In Action for longer than normal.

I did have a bit of a break from knitting....I wasn't really happy with the sock I was knitting and the neck of the self designed sweater wasn't going as planned.

I did get some spinning done for the Tour De Fleece, this is from Scraps Swap 2 and 3, I have divided the 400g of scraps into 4 bags. This is the first skein and the second skein in progress on the bobbin. I am plying with grey merino and should have about 800g for a cardigan or sweater by the time it is all spun, I'm almost half way!

Last weekend we dressed up to take part in Pirate Day, and attempt to get the World Record for the most pirates gathered in one place, Hastings now holds the record with 6,166 Pirates!

I have also been spinning and dyeing in public at the Kent County Show, and last weekend I was spinning at the Winchelsea Féte with the 1066 Spinners.

For anyone else who happens to stop by who isn't a friend on Ravelry and Facebook and hasn't seen my other news, there is going to be a new arrival next February:

I was waiting for the 12 week scan before I went public, and now I am 15 weeks this weekend I can feel the baby moving around more.

Hopefully now my knitting mojo has returned as I need to get on and design the jacket or cardigan for my City and Guilds Handknitting. Ideally i would like to crack on and get it finished before the baby arrives, although I am having trouble getting a yarn and the early samples to work together!

Bigsock/Little Sock

2010-06-12T12:54:00.000-07:00

As it was Worldwide Knit In Public Today we arranged a little meet up in Princes Park, Eastbourne. I thought we should mark the occasion by casting on the heel of Bigsock. That is Becks on the folding chair casting on! Also in the photo is Lesley (in the hat) and Lou. Obviously the empty space is where I was sitting, I think Lesley will have a similar photo with me in it!

We decided the simplest way to work the afterthought heel for Bigsock was from the inside out like a toe, although rather than a closed cast on we have 500 sts cast on into a crochet chain which we will graft later on. The plan is for this part of the sock to travel the UK. Germany are going to be casting on the toe and we can then be working the foot between us!

I finally got past the short row heel on my little Leyburn sock, after 6 failed attempts for one reason or another. I think the first time I wasn't paying attention with my wraps....a couple of times I got a stretched stitch I couldn't fix, then I got further up and realised that the leg was going to be too big, once when I frogged back I didn't check the position of the heel and foot stitches and was a stitch out, another time the foot was too long, then I knit it too short, but on the bright side I am very pleased with how my handspun has held out after all that frogging and re-knitting.

I'm not that far off finishing the first sock now, maybe a few more inches and just weighed the ball of wool to see how it is going....I have 110g on the scales which means so far I have only used 20g! I think I will check again when it is cast off!

It's about time!

2010-06-03T14:36:00.000-07:00

Oh me oh my, I can hardly believe I seem to have lost the whole month of May! There was I on the 22nd April counting down the days (quietly) to my 'big' birthday, and before I knew it we had hit 22nd May...and now look we're into June.
So my birthday was a quiet affair and there have been a few photos set aside for blog posting, although I've just looked for a picture of the long legged sheep that the boys got me, and I can't find it, I know I took one, but it's not in my photos folder or on the laptop, so we'll just continue with some photos from this week!

First up is my Leyburn sock, I had knit up to the ankle and frogged back once, simply because I made a few adjustments as I went and decided to take it out and redo it. This is part of the spin/knitalong we are doing in the limegreenjelly group at the moment. Some people are doing Scrunchie Handwarmers and some are doing the Leyburns and a few are doing both!

I have also been experimenting with a little yarn dyeing this week, these are superwash nylon sock:

The handknit sweater design is coming together, I am just hemming the sleeves and sewing the sleeves in, although you may not get a peek just yet!

I will try not to leave it another month!

Oke!

2010-04-22T10:49:00.000-07:00

I finished the 3ply this week. It didn't actually turn out quite how I imagined. When I split the fiber up I had 7 pieces following the same colour sequence so I figured if I made each piece into 3 then I would have 7 repeats of the colours. I know some of my pieces were thicker than others but didn't think it would split the colours up quite as much as it did, still I'm pleased with the result!

I had been warned that the fibre would bleed a little so I did fix it with a couple of big spoons of citric and bring it up to cook slowly. There wasn't alot of bleed in the water at the end, but the brighter yellow and lime are a little more muted in places, but it hasn't spoiled it!

I have 130g and 450metres, ideal for socks which is handy because we are having a spin/knitalong in the limegreenjelly group over on Ravelry at the moment, I'm hoping it will be suitable for the pattern which is the Leyburn Socks!

Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad!

2010-04-10T12:34:00.000-07:00

The knitting is still plodding steadily, and I have managed to get a little more spinning done. Good job really as Scraps Swap 2 and Scraps Swap 3 (400g of scraps) have arrived and I can't really start spinning them until I finish this 3ply!

I'm Still Standing!

2010-03-27T12:10:00.000-07:00

Yeah, yeah yeah! In the great words of Sir Elton John!

Yes I have been neglecting the blog a little! In knitting news I'm still busy knitting the sweater. It is going well, I am up to the armholes, and have just started working on the back piece. The small gauge makes it slow going, although it is starting to take shape.

I did start a little spinning for the Pararavelympics, although haven't got past the 1st bobbin of the 3ply I started., mainly due to sweater knitting, and when I'm not knitting on this sweater or working I am also thinking about the cardigan/jacket design I need to start when the sweater is finished. Maybe I should start practicing the 5 minutes a day....I would like to finish this yarn at some point!

It is almost a month since we held our 1066 Spinners Dye workshop, this was the 3rd Workshop I have done and the best one so far, mainly because I've learnt as I go what works and what can go wrong. We had a great day in a lovely hall and I think we'll probably hold a simlar Dyeing Day next year.

I put Gemma, one of the knitters I invited, in charge of taking photos and we have some great shots.

These are the before and after shots!

There are quite a few inbetween shots of me demonstrating, and of the group dyeing too, I will try and get them edited and up on flickr....but for now I've got to get back to that sweater!

This Time Last Week......

2010-03-06T13:52:00.000-08:00

I was at Brixton Academy, one of my favourite venues for seeing a band.

Waiting (not quite) patiently for one of my favourite bands...

Hot Chip...this was the third time I've seen Hot Chip and the best gig so far.

I could see them 'over and over and over and over' again. I'm a little frustrated that I can't see how to share the YouTube video here any more...but nevermind.

Knitting news, I am quietly beavering away on my sweater project. No sneaky peeking yet!

I still need to block my Swallowtail and I've had a scarf on my loom since Christmas, ok so the scarf is still on my loom because the sweater design is my top priority at the moment, closely followed by spinning, but I would just like to free the loom up ready for something else, maybe knowing that I haven't really got time for something else right now is the problem!

Scraps!

2010-02-23T13:22:00.000-08:00

I finished plying my scraps yarn late on Thursday night....it's been very wet and grey since so I haven't had much light for decent photos. Managed to grab these between showers this morning!

Scraps!

2010-02-10T08:10:00.001-08:00

This week it's all been about scrapping fibre for the 1st UK Scraps Swap!

Inspired by the Scraps Swap Group on Ravelry I decided to see if there were enough people in the UK interested in a scraps swap. We had 28 people in this first swap and over 5kg of fibre.

I gradually worked my way through scrapping all the fibre by doing 8 braids a day, and just had a few left Monday lunchtime.

I then started making up scrap bags, and once I started I got through all 28 quite quickly. I then got them all packed up and labelled and off to all the participants of the swap!

Here are my scraps, I have split every scrap into 2 pieces and have 2 bags ready to make a 2ply yarn. It has been such a successful swap we have decided to do it all over again, although I'm not hosting it this time!

Blah!

2010-02-02T07:14:00.001-08:00

So we've done with January and here is February already! I had hoped to have been back sooner with yarn photos, but keeping all the balls in the air at this time of year always seems harder.

Hopefully by Spring my multi-tasking skills may get back to normal!

This first skein is camel/silk. It was an attempt at the 800yard race, but fell quite short at 576 yards, although probably my best effort yet from 100g!

The second one is about 200g of merino. I spindle spun half, back in October when I was at the Textiles in Sussex Exhibition. I found a very similar braid so wheel spun that up to ply together.

There is alot of sample knitting going on for the sweater I am designing, and finally the Swallowtail has been cast off and is waiting for some blocking.

Scrunchie Rides Again!

2010-01-17T12:03:00.000-08:00

I could probably knit this pattern in my sleep. Wouldn't that be great sleep knitting, just think how much you would get done! The yarn is trekking xxl, knit on 2mm. I may still knit another pair....my pair are missing presumed lost....I can't actually think of where I had them last, they may still turn up, but it's looking unlikely. I do need some knitting on the needles for Wednesday (knitjam) although it would be nice to get my Swallowtail finished before I cast on something else.

I think this pair will be for my neice as her mum had a pair while I was visiting at Christmas and I said I would knit her a pair too.

Not alot else to show at the moment, there has been a little bit of spinning, and I washed some skeins today so maybe some yarn photos later in the week!

Take The Weather With You!

2010-01-10T13:36:00.000-08:00

There has been a bit of snow causing havoc in the UK this week. More snow than I have seen since the 1970s!

I did manage to finish my camel/silk. It's not really a contender for the 800yard race, I had 576 yards, which was a little disappointing, although I think I could achieve 700 with a different fibre. No photos yet, I've not got around to washing it!

Apart from that I've been doing some garment sketches for my City and Guilds Handknitting, and working on some tv handwarmer knitting.

I also want to say a big Happy Birthday to Marianne, for Tuesday! Happy Birthday Big Sis, hope you have a lovely birthday! xoxox

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T06:17:00.000-08:00

So here we are in 2010! Some people have been busy writing resolutions and goals for the New Year, I'm not really someone who bothers with all that much and I don't feel that you have to set yourself goals to feel you have achieved something, it's really down to the individual.

I didn't consciously set any goals for 2009, and if you look at my knitting projects there are probably less projects finished last year to the 3 years recorded previously, but if you look at my Handpainted Fibre Set you can see just how productive I really was. Then add to that a few scarves and a several skeins of yarn and I actually achieved quite a bit. I've put together a little photo mosaic of some of the projects, I think my Clapotis is missing at the moment. It must be in flickr as its in my Ravelry projects but sometimes it's like looking for a needle in a haystack when I haven't added it to the right set. I think I may just put knitting, weaving and handspun for 2010 in a Set of their own together rather than have a set for each!

I am happy that everything I did in 2009 enriched my well being. My spinning has really improved and I've made a start with weaving....but 2010 needs to have some new challenges ...I may not achieve all of them, but I am trying to set myself achievable goals as oppose to setting my sights on something just a little out of reach like a Number 1 single in the charts.

Spinning....I would like to learn some different drafting techniques, and to conquer my fear of Long Draw.

I'm also going to try spinning and sampling more yarns, and will be setting up some more spinning challenges in the limegreenjelly group on Ravelry.

Knitting....I need to design and knit 2 garments for my City & Guilds Handknitting.

Weaving....I'm going to spin up my pick and mix faux cashmere/silk yarns and weave a scarf (once the current scarf project os off the loom)

Talking of challenges we are still having an 800yard Race in the limegreenjelly group on Ravelry, anyone is welcome to join. I have some camel/silk on the wheel at the moment which I am hoping will be a contender!

Boxing Day!

2009-12-26T02:49:00.000-08:00

Belated greetings to all my friends near and far, here we are on Boxing Day, most of December passed in a blur and although I did knit a couple of gifts these are secret knitting and not for sharing.

I have been detangling my skein of lace yarn with a vengeance whilst watching tv this week and it's getting there, maybe a few more days of obsessive fiddling. It's funny how the detangling has almost become like stocking stitch, apart from the travelling backwards into a ball thing. It's just good to see I'm actually getting somewhere with it, but I also need to get to work on designing my garments for my City & Guilds Handknitting. I let the course lapse this year, but want to get back into the swing of it.

The Joker

2009-12-12T06:06:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I started spinning this:

It was uploaded to flickr at the end of August last year, and it was right down at the bottom of one of my 'stash sacks'

The colours reminded me of Heath Ledgers outfits as The Joker in The Dark Night so that's what I called it.

It's merino, I have 350m, just over 100g, and I have another one to spin!

Eyelet Cap!

2009-12-03T08:43:00.001-08:00

And here we are finally, the hat was finished in the middle of last week just in time for the Guild Fashion Show, but the weather has been mostly wet and grey. Managed to get a couple of photos done just before another downpour today!

I adjusted the pattern for fit a little, by doing one less of the eyelet repeats, as it would have been too big for me.

I'm pleased with the way the hat co-ordinates with the scarf, and have enough yarn left to make some gloves, if I could decide on a pattern. I did look at doing some eyelets but they didn't work too well on my wrists, so I'm thinking of doing something simple with some cabling maybe!

Not alot going on at the moment, I pulled the Swallowtail out and knitted a couple of rows yesterday. I have 6 more rows till the cast-off so I will try and get that done and dusted before Christmas now!

I'm still detangling the lace....there's a scarf on the loom and I'm rifling through the spinning stash but still undecided about what to spin next!

Hat Yarn!

2009-11-17T11:44:00.000-08:00

I managed to finish the second bobbin of singles and get my hat yarn plied last night!

It's Bluefaced Leicester, mainly from a semi solid braid I had called 'Blue Suede Shoes' with a little grey and turquoise added for interest. I'm hoping it's going to co-ordinate with the first woven scarf off my loom. There is 145g/486metres (the hat should only take 80g). I am hoping I have enough left for some gloves or handwarmers.

Inspired by the silk scarves here which were raffled off at the Textiles in Sussex Exhibition, I have been dyeing some of the faux cashmere/silk that I have with a view to spinning and weaving my own silk scarf.

I have also been attempting to dye some silk too, it's funny how the addition of faux cashmere makes the silk easier to dye!

Another Fine Mess.....

2009-11-10T10:49:00.001-08:00

There are lots of bitty things happening at freestylefibre HQ at the moment.

I've been knitting on a secret knitting project, for the limegreenjelly secret santa swap, so since it is a completely secret swap, unless my swapee guesses it's from me, you won't get to see the knitting anyway!

I'm also trying to spin some yarn to knit a hat, before the weather gets too cold. I can't find my old faithful stripy hat anywhere, and yes, it is about time I knitted one. Especially since I've found an ideal pattern in the Fall Vogue (edited to add ravelry link just for big sis Marianne!)

My Swallowtail did have a few more rows knit, until the secret knitting jumped up the queue. I've also got a scarf on the loom.

So why oh why did I decide I needed some more lace in my life? I have had the yarn for quite a while, a few months ago I found the perfect colour mother of pearl discs, and so I thought it was time I purchased the pattern (Hanging Garden Stole) and wound the skein into a ball in preparation to cast on. Unfortunately the skein had other ideas, it wound fine for a little bit and then it just got caught and wouldn't turn on the rice any more.....I could be untangling for a little while!

Just to make life a little more interesting I have decided to open a second etsy shop for handspun yarns and other creations, it's called freestylefibre. Actually I have been planning to open freestylefibre since June, I just had to put aside a little time to get a few items in there!

Heartland Lace

2009-10-29T14:00:00.000-07:00

It's done, actually it's been done for a couple of weeks but we had alot of rain and I couldn't get any decent photos, I did 5 repeats of the main pattern...and size wise I thought it was huge, but actually it's only 2 inches wider across the top than the one in the pattern (66 inches)

It's a really nice pattern to knit, especially if you like following written instructions....I worked without lifelines, but it was just one of those designs I could actually read!

It also goes to show it doesn't matter how thick and thin your handspun is when it comes to some lace patterns, as the yarn was far from perfect, as thin as lace in some places and like dk in others, but I did spin quite alot of this yarn while demonstrating at the Alpaca Festival back in April.

Spinning & Weaving:

2009-10-16T13:30:00.000-07:00

Last week I decided to get spinning something from my stash. This fibre started life on my spindle at Woolfest, but I had only spun 10g! I decided to speed things up a bit and transferred everything to the Little Gem.

I was spinning this all week so I was a little disappointed with the 220m I got in the end, still I'm hoping it will make a nice 'Howl' a cowl I can turn into a hat!

I've also been weaving Noro Silk Garden and Silk Garden Lite Warped Scarves! Mostly these are to sell, but wonders will never cease....my other half wants to keep one of the Autumnal one's. So far I have woven 2 of each, although there is quite a bit of the shade 203 left over frogged from a sweater and last seen in my Clapotis.

I think I only have 2 rows left on the Heartland Lace Shawl so maybe a photo of some actual knitting soon!

Metal Guru Ice Queen on a Cloudy Day!

2009-10-03T00:02:00.001-07:00

Next up in the custom spinning, someone fell in love with my Metal Guru colourway and asked me to dye something in pale blue, pale grey and leave areas of white to ply with it:

600m! It's already on it's way to it's new owner who has plans for a shawl!

I have been working away on my Heartland Lace, I'm now on the edging and hope to finish this soon, just under 2 months till the Guild's November meeting which will be the Fashion Show and Diamond Celebrations!

I've also had a washing machine disaster with 2 of my merino/angora scarves, shrunken into beautiful felt....possibly they will have to be made into bags. I'm in the process of weaving a new merino/angora scarf. Luckily I had only used 60g of that 200g skein of Singin' The Blues, enough left for 2 scarves!

This Weeks Spin:

2009-09-25T16:09:00.000-07:00

Merino/tussah silk 500m/200g

Yarrrrny stuff!

2009-09-18T13:04:00.000-07:00

Did a bit of spinning last week! First up is a custom order, Don't Dream It's Over....200g of merino/cashmere/silk spunover 3 days:

Then while my spinning mojo was on the rise I started and finished a 3ply, 2 bobbins of Sweet Dreams cashmerino and one bobbin of black merino....150g 300m

In knitting news I had to frog a whole repeat out of my Heartland Lace Shawl, and it's finally back at the row where I was before it all went wrong, I've done 5 repeats, I may do one more before the edging, but those long rows get me in the end, and I'm back at the wheel doing some more custom spinning!

Edited to add if you are on Ravelry you can go here to see what happened to Don't Dream It's Over. I just love the the title, made my day!

Singin The Blues Encore!

2009-09-09T11:15:00.001-07:00

This is my quickest scarf yet! I started weaving Thursday afternoon and took it off the loom late Friday night!

I have only used a third of the merino/angora (I had 200g) so I'm considering either warping up another scarf and using the handspun for warp this time, or using the handspun for both.

I'm having trauma with my Heartland Lace Shawl....almost 5 repeats and the last couple of days I've been frogging more than I've been knitting, I'm hoping to get a row right soon, I almost frogged the whole thing in frustration earlier, it's just been driving me crazy, good advice would be to put it in the naughty corner, but that just leaves the Swallowtail....and that still needs some quiet time.

I have just got the right shade of blue dangles for the Hanging Garden Stole but really ought to have some simple projects on the needles for KnitJam.

Singing The Blues!

2009-09-05T11:22:00.000-07:00

Merino/angora 200g, 14wpi, 510 metres

Blah!

2009-08-31T13:20:00.001-07:00

Just going to squeeze in a quick post before August comes to an end! Yes I've been neglecting the blog a bit, I have had good intentions of getting a new post up for the last couple of weeks, but this and that have kept me from it.

I have been out spinning in the sunshine a little bit, here I am at the Winchelsea Féte with the 1066 Spinners. An enjoyable Saturday afternoon, and they brought us fabulous tea and cakes!

I have been doing a little bit of spinning, not a huge amount but these have been finished off recently while I was waiting for the loom to be fixed (yes it is fixed now, and another scarf has been and gone, I would show you photos but its very like the first scarf as I decided to make another one with the leftovers)

Both Bluefaced Leicester, I was spinning the first one with 'masculine' woven scarves in mind, although I have some more merino/angora (which I finished spinning last week) to go on the loom first! The second one is a braid I started spindle spinning at Woolfest, I got impatient and finished it off on the wheel.

On the knitting front my Swallowtail just needs a little quiet time, I've also started a Heartland Lace Shawl with some overcooked handspun alpaca you may get to see soon.

A Scarf's Tale!

2009-08-06T09:56:00.000-07:00

Gosh golly and darn it, I was happily weaving away on the scarf, firstly after the last photo and a little advice from the 'ashford loomies' on Ravelry, it was apparant that going on the way I was my scarf wouldn't have had the right sort of drape....my gauge was too tight, so I unwove it (not as much fun as frogging), and started again.

Then last Saturday I took the loom off its stand, folded it and took it to a Spinning Group and when I got there the right shed block that holds the heddle was just turning when it should be rigid, and the plastic handle had threaded onto the bolt that holds it. Anyway I got home rung my dealer who arranged to send me a new block, and I wedged it in place so I could at least finish the scarf.

As you can see it's all done, even finishing the thing left me with a dilemma, a wash fluffed up the threads a little, but not enough, I did a bit of walking on it in the bath....nothing happened! I then gave it a 10 minute wash in the machine, which only managed to almost felt and entangle my extra long fringe (seemed a shame to cut it off) together.

So I rescued the fringe, and then ting....just gave it a good rub and soaping to hand full it a little, and ta da:

It is done! The block came today for the loom, unfortunately it's the left block when I need the right.....deep breaths.

Inspite of all the bad omens I'm not ready to throw in the loom yet!

Weaving....

2009-07-29T14:42:00.000-07:00

Finally the planets aligned enough to allow me to wrestle a warp onto the loom. It was a bit like putting tights on an octopus....but we're weaving!

Handyed merino/alpaca warp
Handspun merino/angora weft

I'm hoping for a scarf, it depends on its drapability when it comes off...who knows! You learn as you go!

Stretching my Jelly Legs!

2009-07-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

323m superwash BFL

Chasing Rainbows

2009-07-17T13:43:00.000-07:00

280m superwash BFL

Singles Night

2009-07-15T23:35:00.000-07:00

I had Keith take some photos of the singles I have been spinning 'in motion'. Some kind of funny coincidence that it matches my socks!

This colourway is called Chasing Rainbows, I'm hoping to have it plied today!

Tour De Fleece Time Trial

2009-07-07T12:47:00.000-07:00

I finished spinning the singles after lunch and finding myself home alone I just couldn't resist and started plying and just didn't stop (apart from having to answer the doorbell once) until it was done:

This Week!

2009-07-05T13:39:00.000-07:00

I don't really know where last week went, I came back from Woolfest last Sunday and the rest of the week just seems to have disappeared down a black hole, I haven't even done any knitting.

Woolfest itself seemed to pass in a blur of excitement and a flurry of colour!

I did take my camera to Cumbria, but unfortunately left my card in my computer, so I don't really have any photos. This photo was taken by the I-Knit boys.

There are a couple of photos of me on the stall I haven't seen yet. I know MrsWoman has a photo of me, and it was brilliant to meet you after all this time!

I met alot of people, too many to name them all, because I'm bound to forget someone! There were people from Ravelry, people who have bought from me before, new people, it really was a whirlwind couple of days, and very hot and sticky, and I really couldn't have done it without Peri, and also a special thankyou to SussexYorkie for helping us out on Friday too!

One of the highlights was the Creative Weaving stall, I have had the book since earlier this year. I always said I would weave one day so Woolfest 2009 will be the weekend which really pushed me over the edge. Funnily enough the last Woolfest I went to (2007) I was almost tempted to buy a Knitters Loom, and after a brief lesson on Saturday afternoon from the Elizabeth Ashford on the Knitters Loom, that is exactly what I have ordered in the 20" size.

I have a moderate haul from Woolfest, 2 balls of fabric yarn and a skein of sari ribbon, I thought I could weave with these! and a new spindle, Mexican Rosewood, made by IST Crafts on the Isle Of Wight. I also bought a 1.5 bump of organic merino which is naturally dyed a gorgeous silvery grey colour, which I will probably use for plying.

Yesterday the Tour De Fleece started. I started spinning the Spiral Dyed BFL as I wanted to start with something bright and cheerful, I finished the singles yesterday and did the chain plying today:

And finally The Knitter Issue 7:

Managed to get our Knitting Group 'KnitJam' featured in the Gallery pages, timely as we have been meeting up twice a month for 3 years this month!

Whatever Next?

2009-06-23T08:36:00.001-07:00

Tuesday afternoon and all the fibre is labelled, packed and ready to go!

I haven't had much time for knitting or spinning over the last couple of weeks, but now that all the dyeing is done I've been casting my eye over my knitting projects to pack....but nothing really is that simple.

Take project one....some handspun silk with beads threaded on being knitted in a freeform manner into some kind of scarf....

It's quite mindless...in fact it's almost so mindless it bores me senseless, but will look pretty when it's done!

My Swallowtail, I had knit the first 12 rows of the Lily Valley Border, but had to frog back to my lifeline, and it's a bit too full on anti-social knitting, so not suitable for Woolfest.

Ahhh yes project 3, cast on at Knitjam last week! I had 200g in one colourway and 200g in a very similar colourway I was saving for a bigger project and decided it would be great for a handspun Clapotis....except I spun some in a hurry without displaying due care and attention and ended up with 2 skeins of overspun singles, 1 is ok and I've got one left to spin!
...slightly chunkier than I really wanted but I am knitting on 5.5mm needles only .5mm larger than normal anyway...and it looks and feels ok.

I just wonder if the slight bulkiness of it would work better as a scarf, but when I knitted a small piece and did the drops it just changes the whole appearance of it....you know me I just don't want to spend a couple of weeks knitting on this and frogging it back, although I have just put in a lifeline at what I would call scarf width, so maybe that is exactly what I am going to do!

I estimate it will be about 16" wide...and am estimating if I used all 4 balls it would be longer than 68" so quite long enough....but do I want to knit it wider and shorter...so more of a wrap..or do it this width/length....I just can't decide.

Option 4....I have wanted to knit Lizard Ridge for a long time...my favourite blanket is in tug of war between the cat and the child on a daily basis..so a gorgeous afghan just for me is just what I need, so yesterday I picked up a ball of Kureyon at the LYS.
I thought I could just pick up a ball and knit on it now and then until I have enough, no pressure!

I usually like 2 projects on the needles....but if I cast on a square for LizRidge that will be 4..aaarrgghh WIP anxiety, this is just as bad as having no knitting on the needles and stressing over not having anything to knit!

People Get Ready.....

2009-06-12T13:00:00.001-07:00

Here I Come....

Less than two weeks till Woolfest and the dyepots are bubbling hothothot @ limegreenjelly!

2009-06-04T03:52:00.000-07:00

Thankyou for all the lovely comments about my clapotis! It feels like this merino/angora was hanging around on the bobbin for ages, but I knuckled down over a few nights last week to get it finished and plied.

I may well have some merino/angora in the 'too spin' pile this week, I came back from the dentist Tuesday to find the cat had taken a fancy to some which was hanging on the airer in the sun...it's no longer in saleable condition, but still spinable. She has never really been bothered by it before, but she was in a funny, playful mood, and we think it may be because the breeze was just blowing it a little!

Clapotis Clapotis Jiggity Jig!

2009-05-29T11:17:00.000-07:00

Just the usual bustling, flurry of dyeing going on here, but I finally grabbed 5 minutes for a photo of my Clapotis!

There is a little lace knitting going on, and I have just finished spinning some merino/angora, also finished 2 skeins of alpaca from the alpaca show, but I'm probably going to dye them 1st, they may even turn into a shawl, or wrap, photos soon!

This Weeks Dyeing!

2009-05-15T12:40:00.000-07:00

Build Me A New Spindle!

2009-05-12T05:36:00.000-07:00

I decided that it was time to expand my spindle collection, and what better way to start than commissioning Karen from Wildcraft to make me a One of A Kind spindle with some treasured lego bricks? It's great to see the colours merge and blur as it spins!

Admiring Alpacas at Ardingly!

2009-05-09T03:39:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I set off for Ardingly Showground as a couple of other ladies from the Kent Guild had invited me to spin with them at the Alpaca and Llama Festival. This is the display Marian and Wendy had laid out when I arrived Saturday, the garments you can see are all Marian's and mostly from alpaca!

I slept just infront of the table where the spinning wheels are for the photograph.

The festival was on for 2 days and Alpaca Farmers came from all over to show their animals.

We were given alpaca to spin and although the weather was very windy on Sunday and we had a little rain on Monday, it was still an enjoyable time, demonstrating the art of spinning and chatting to people!

Still here!

2009-04-24T23:38:00.000-07:00

Yes I've been a very bad blogger, my weekly posts have been dropping off as the year plods on!

I have finished my Clapotis, just need to sew two ends in, (all my other ends were Russian joined) and take some photos, to say I love this pattern would be an understatement.....I can see why some people have knitted multiple Clapotis'!

So this week I have been very excited to have some new fibres in the house:

First up is the merino/seacell, this hasn't been readily available here in the UK.....but now I've got my hands on some it's going to be a regular in the shop...I LOVE it!

The second selection is a merino/carbonised bamboo blend, I just wanted to try something a little different that hasn't been seen anywhere else:

Dye Workshop

2009-04-06T12:18:00.001-07:00

Sometime last year I was asked if I could do a dye workshop, I tentively agreed and the date was booked for 6th April 2009. I packed up the car last night and off I went this morning into deepest Kent.

I started with a demonstration and let them loose with the dyes, here are some of the results:

I think I had 13 dyer's in all but instead of pandemonium it all went very well!

This is a little sampler of Bluefaced Leicester which I dyed up as a colour sampler so people could see the strength of colours we were going to be using today. It is spiral dyed with 11 colours.

For a good visual explanation about spiral dyeing see here

Naughty Knitting Alert!

2009-03-31T13:59:00.000-07:00

So shhhh, I should be beavering away on the Sweater of Doom...but I cast on for some naughty knitting this week, I am knitting a Clapotis in some silk garden that was a sweater!

I have been practicing my navaho or chain plying...yes I know I've almost been spinning for 3 years this June but when I started out I had one horrific attempt at navaho and hated it.

The trouble is my dear friend Jill in Canada sent me this:

It's Karaoke merino/soy and it really screams CHAIN PLY ME, just to stop all those beautiful bright colours from muddying up. So I did a couple of practice bits, and then I did this:

This is some bright merino or BFL I had lying around, infact it was almost ugly fibre and I was just keeping it out of the shop, because I didn't think it would sell, but spinning it almost prettied it up a bit! My first 100g skein of navaho....it's not perfect, but it is actually balanced and I feel alright about it.

2009-03-21T14:36:00.000-07:00

Finally feel like I'm catching up with everything, I just need to spend a little quality time with the Sweater of Doom!

This weeks dyepots!

Merino/tencel and merino/silk!

Oh No...Not Me!

2009-03-16T06:20:00.000-07:00

Ok it's been two weeks, it's not a major blog break by any means, but apart from a secret dye project, and the latest shop update, there doesn't seem to be a muchness of anything happening here at the moment.

The Sweater of Doom is almost up to the armholes! But I haven't had time to work on it for yet another week, and I don't have anything else on the needles, maybe I should cast on some...'I don't know what else to do' socks, although I really do want to be working with my stash of handspun.

There is a little merino/angora on the wheel.

I don't like to leave without a photo....so unfortunately it's just this weekends shop update, I seemed to be behind last week, no matter what I did, and much as I really need to get ahead again this week (yes I know it's only Monday) I just don't feel very motivated to do anything.

Finally....

2009-02-26T10:02:00.000-08:00

Just completed this last night: Handspun Swiss Cheese in Watercolour Dream.

The fibre timed out of the 'shop' in the 'old' days....and as it was only 100g, I plied it with a silk thread to make it go a bit further. I had about 260metres at 22WPI, 125g.

Well almost finished, I haven't sewn in the ends or blocked it yet, but I couldn't wait to show it off!

This week!

2009-02-20T00:43:00.000-08:00

This week I've been working harder than usual to get the update ready a day early, as we're off visiting family today.

I'm really quite pleased with the steely greys and reds!

The update will be going live tonight!

Love Is In The Air....

2009-02-14T10:18:00.000-08:00

I have been back at the dyepots again this week, but I have been working with a few new blends.

First up is a blend of merino/baby alpaca/silk:

Then some merino/soybean:

And some merino/tencel:

Hoping to find time for a bit of spinning and a few rows of knitting this weekend!

Can I do 7 Quick Takes Friday in a Blur!

2009-02-06T14:02:00.000-08:00

1) My life is just passing in a blur of dyed fibres at the moment!

2) My dear friend Kim at Fibre Café nominated me for a Kreative Blogger Award, and I'm not going to nominate anyone else....I still love to drop in on my friends that still blog, it's like meeting a friend for a coffee, peeping into these lives and watching all the paths that cross and intertwine.

3) I still haven't found a new Winter Coat, maybe by the time that I do Spring will be here, and I can start to take a leisurely look at coats at the start of next season!

4) Keith has just given me a new intrigueing Rubik's Cube from Japan, it's called Rubik's Mirror Cube, the blocks are different sizes, will take some photos tomorrow before I start to mess with it! This is a photo I found on the web, except mine is gold!

5) I am reading Neil Gaiman- Neverwhere really slowly at the moment, can't seem to keep my eyes open for long when I get into bed!

6)If you haven't heard Fleet Foxes, Mykonos then go and listen NOW!

7) I didn't really think I would make it through 7 Quick Takes but here I am at number 7, what can I tell you...how did I manage to not to mention the weather that has caused chaos around the country this week!

I will leave you with a glimpse of this weeks update:

There be knitting content!

2009-01-30T01:01:00.000-08:00

Finally the Sweater of Doom makes an appearance, this first picture is of the front, just to make things as complicated as possible the back and front are different! There are 5 dropped stitches on the left front, and 2 plus a third on the back!

The design itself is inspired by some very cracked painted woodwork, maybe when it is finished I will make a collage of the photos that inspired the design along with some artwork and progress photos!

This is also my other plodding project, it feels like I've been knitting it forever, the first half seemed to move really quickly, and now it just plods slowly. I did manage a few rows while watching Men of Honour last night (what a great film). But I'm not sure if I like it...I keep looking at the yarn and thinking it would make a lovely baby surprise jacket. My grim determination to knit things up with my handspun this year is definately wavering a bit!

Also the UK Winter Warmers Swap comes to a close this week, it was pre-arranged that all the parcels would go out the same week, which I think was a great idea. I posted my package to my unsuspecting victim , yesterday and came home to find this collection of goodies from my surprise swap partner! It's a package to make some thrummed mittens in a lovely shade of blue merino. I've always wanted to make some thrummed mittens, which my partner obviously picked up on. Also in my package were some Brittany Birch DPNS and a very large box of After Eights, yum! Special thanks to Ali for putting it all togther for me!

Not quite sure why blogger started typing in a different colour inbetween photo's, or what I can do to adjust it, so I'm just going to let it be!

New Fibres!

2009-01-24T08:57:00.000-08:00

In lieu of any knitting content, here's the latest additions to the shop:

I'm still chugging away on the Sweater of Doom, and the scarf that I'm working on, I'll try and get some progress photos up this week!

Happy Birthday Neo!

2009-01-18T07:00:00.000-08:00

My baby is 5 today, for weeks now we have been planning his first big birthday party, with all his old and new school friends in attendance, so later today we'll be decorating the hall and waiting for 28 children to arrive. This is the fabulous cake I had made, it's Banacafalata from the Doctor Who Christmas special 2007!

2009-01-14T00:00:00.000-08:00

Just uploaded some more fibres to the shop, wasn't going to blog about it, but I liked the flickr mosaic so much I just had to share it!

I am planning an update of luxury fibres by the end of the week!

Dashing around!

2009-01-09T14:27:00.000-08:00

Just putting my head up above the parapet to let you know I'm still here, have been pretty busy for the last couple of weeks, and it shows no signs of slowing down just yet.

Have been dyeing some merino this week and have just been updating the shop:

On the wheel I have some merino/cashmere/silk:

On the needles: still working on a handspun scarf (tv and travel knitting ) and the Sweater of Doom, which is just the biggest swatch in the world!

New Year, New Stuff!

2008-12-29T15:02:00.001-08:00

So Christmas came and went, and was virtually hassle free, I had some lovely gifts..notably Norah Gaughan-Knitting Nature (which has been on my wish list for a long time) and Inspired to Knit aswell although they both inspire me to keep working at it. My bestest pressie has to be the complete DVD set of the Buffy The Vampire series, I just need to find the time to watch them all the way from the beginning!

The frogged Sweater of Doom is back to where it was and a little more since frogging, and I've been doing a little dyeing. After the experience with the merino/cashmere/silk/angora that Rosie gifted to me, I decided it was time to branch out a little and try some different fibres in my etsy shop. 1st up is Swamp Thing, a blend of merino/cashmere/silk....I listed it earlier (sorry it was snapped up!)

This second one is a blend of 50% merino/50% angora, it's soooooo soft and it's called Beautiful Stranger, over in my etsy shop now!

It's Christmassssss!!!!!!

2008-12-24T11:53:00.001-08:00

So Christmas is here....this is the only Christmas knitting I did to use up the second half of the ball left in my stash.

On the needles.... still working on my college sweater design project, slow progress and after completing 37 rows I dropped a drop stitch only to find it ran into the garter stitch border, so had to rip it out and start again! gahhh! Have a handspun scarf on the needles, I really hope this is a keeper not a frogger!

And I feel a case of startitus coming on, as I've been spinning some bulky merino/silk to test knit a scarf for a friend on Ravelry, I never have more than two projects on the go usually.

So there we have it....just want to Wish You All a Very Merry Christmas!

see you on the other side!

New Yarns!

2008-12-14T13:00:00.001-08:00

First up I have a green BFL supercoil! The last supercoils I spun was only 15 metres, so this time I spun the single much thinner, to ensure I had a bit more yardage!

Next up is the merino/cashmere/silk/angora that was gifted to me by Rosie in the first UK Swap! I'm really pleased how this has turned out, although I would have liked to spin it finer. I do think it might even be whispering cowl to me, but we'll see how it swatches!

Warming Your Hands!

2008-12-14T12:19:00.000-08:00

This weeks UK Swap inspirational post is about warming your hands.

I have knitted gloves and handwarmers, and even knitted and frogged some bulky mittens in a handspun yarn. But so far colourwork has eluded me, mainly because I have favourite patterns but haven't really found the right combination of yarns.

What is your favourite Winter Warmer for your hands?
I like gloves, mittens, and handwarmers equally, there is room for them all in my Winter wardrobe!

Do you have a favourite pattern or FO?
I have several that the keen eyed will have spotted in my Rav favourites,recent additions are the Fresco Fair Isle Mitts, and the Snowflake Fingerless Mitts, although I'm also quite partial to the Squirrelly Swedish Mitts too, among others!

What is your favourite yarn for gloves, mittens or handwarmers?
A yarn suitable for its purpose, obviously some of the semi solid and solid sock yarns are ideal for colourwork because they are so hardwearing.

Are there any patterns out there you would love to own?
I think I have most of the ones I like, or they are free downloads. Actually there is the Fiddlehead mittens....I don't own this....if I had found the right yarn, maybe I would have bought it!

Or do you already have a winter warmer and you would like some mittens/gloves/handwarmers to match?
Nothing finished I want to match with at the moment!

Live Earth - Short Film - Don´t Let It All Unravel

2008-12-06T00:56:00.001-08:00

This is ACE!

UK Swaps Round 3

2008-12-05T12:20:00.000-08:00

Have signed up for round 3 of the UK Swap:

Kit Swap

What kind of kit are you interested in receiving? Hat, gloves, mittens, scarf, handwarmers, cowl, or socks.

Are you interested in any particular techniques? Cables, fair isle, hmmmm, I've always fancied having a go at thrummed mittens.

Do you knit, crochet, or both? I knit, I can do some crochet stitches, never really managed to follow a crochet pattern.

What is your favourite colour? Purple, Blue, Lime, Charcoal

What is your least favourite colour? Pink and Orange

What’s your style? (elegant, traditional, glamourous, girly, natural, sporty, outgoing, etc.) Sort of thrown together boho scruff.

Do you have a favourite type of fibre or brand of yarn? Anything soft, pure wool, wool blends, noro, habu.

Do you have a least favourite type of yarn? eyelash acrylic.

Do you do any other crafts? I spin a bit, dabble with dyes, and sew!

Are there any knitting accessories you are interested in receiving? I don't have any bamboo double points in 2.50mm.

What do you like to eat? Gummi bears, strawberry creams, orange creams, peppermint creams, I don't like dark chocolate, but don't mind it wrapped around a flavour.

Any allergies/preferences (fiber-wise or treat-wise)? I don't like nuts, apart from toblerone or belgian seashells!

Anything we missed that you’d like your partner to know? Anything else you need to know about me, just ask!

On a Roll....

2008-11-28T13:43:00.000-08:00

I'm still here, the weeks are starting to pass in a blur but the wheel has been turning with this mix all week. It's the merino/silk/cashmere/angora, Rosie gifted to me in the UK swap back in March, dyed by me! All ready to ply when I have a few hours to spare!

I am doing a little knitting, I finished a pair of aran handwarmers this week for my mother-in-law, infact they were finished in an evening and a half, just a basic vanilla handwarmer pattern. I've also cast on for another pair of Scrunchie Handwarmers, as there was almost enough Trekking left. Not quite enough yarn left to do a pair so I'm just working less ruffles!

2008-11-17T11:49:00.000-08:00

This is the second project off my new wheel, (sorry Lesley no photos of my baby bean yet but it looks like this one). The weather has been so bad I feel lucky to get photo's at all!

Ok so here we have 340metres of aran weight merino, about 11 wraps per inch.

I've also lowered all the prices in my etsy shop to reflect the strength of the $, and added some more merino last night, I will hopefully upload some Bluefaced Leicester later in the week if the weather improves enough for photographs.

Beansprout!

2008-11-07T13:43:00.000-08:00

This is the first skein off my new wheel, Jellybean...hence I gave it the name...Beansprout, I've also finished spinning the other braid, I have about 265 metres altogether.

I realised this week that I had probably dyed too much for the Knit Safari tomorrow, but that means I can take it easy for a bit and concentrate on spinning, knitting and filling a second order of Lavender bags, I also need to make some more sticks of rock too.

Pest!

2008-10-27T15:00:00.000-07:00

Still I did manage a small update in the shop!

Arrivals and Departures!

2008-10-23T03:45:00.000-07:00

During September and October I had been thinking about replacing my Ashford Joy with a double treadle version, and while I was humming and ahhing over the expense of a new wheel somebody on Ravelry posted that they were going to be selling their Majacraft Little Gem, and that it would be available for a pick up in London late October. I slept on it, thought about it, and got in touch with the seller, we chatted through Ravelry and the decision was made.

So early last Saturday morning I delivered my Ashford Joy to it's new home. My SP10 buddy Jon jumped in first when I mentioned I was going to be selling Joy, as he has well and truly caught the spinning bug! Then Jon accompanied me to Clapham to pick up Jellybean my new portable wheel.

This is one of the last projects completed with the help of Joy, and plied on PukaPuka. Watercolour Dreams was a superwash fibre, I started spinning it back in August, and decided to ply it with a silk thread to make the 100g of fibre go a little further!

I have already spun my first skein of yarn on Jellybean, early this week, so weather permitting, I should hopefully get some shots of that up soon too!

Party Girl!

2008-10-16T10:27:00.000-07:00

Sorry to keep you in suspense, Rosie got it straight away, it is indeed a tea cosy! It's called Party Girl, and was designed by Loani Prior from the forthcoming book Wild Tea Cosies, which should be available in December! I've been asked to knit a couple of tea cosies in readiness for the book launch. Here she is in pride of place, sorry I can't take any credit for any of these beautiful cakes either!

A Mysterious Object!

2008-10-11T11:33:00.000-07:00

Bigsock has been at Mew Mew's Yarn shop in Louisville, Colorado since Labor Day, September 1st, I just had to show you Mew Mew napping on the job, one of my favourite photos of the sock on it's journey so far! I've just had word that it has reached it's new destination....Alaska!!

This week I have been finishing off my Lavender Bags.

And knitting a mysterious object!

Hmmmmmm.......what could it be?

Special thanks to Rosie, she sent me a pompom tool in the first UK Ravelry Swap, and it came in handy while I beavered away on 27 pompoms for this project!

Can you tell what it is yet? I shall reveal all.......soon!

I'm also the lucky recipient of two 'I Love Your Blog' awards! First Victor and also Peri gave me the award on the last post, and if they hadn't been the two that nominated me in the first place, well they'd be up there at the top of the list as I love your blogs too! I had also recieved a reward ealier in September from Angie, I always enjoy reading what you've been upto too Angie, and look on in wonderment as you fit everything in!!

Its really hard to choose blogs to award because I love all the blogs that I visit on a regular basis, but I have picked a few out:

The first one I am giving to Caroline. I've alway found a visit to Caroline's blog brings a little peace and serenity, or just stops you in your tracks and makes you think or laugh!

The second one I am giving to Elsie Dinsmore, the 'Punk Pensioner!' I only found this blog this week, but how could you not love it!

Now according to the rules I think I'm supposed to nominate at least 4 bloggers for the award, but since I think everyone should get one I'm just going to stop there. If I'm a visitor at your blog, you can be sure of one thing, I do love your blog, and consider yourself a recipient of this award!

The Sweet Smell of

2008-10-04T11:28:00.000-07:00

...... Sussex Lavender!

This week I've mostly been working away on some lavender bags for Aardvark!

There have also been some new colours added to the shop:

And I'm also busy dyeing a few braids for this fabulous FREE local event:

In other lives Kim transformed this yarn (which she purchased through etsy)

into this scrumtious chevron scarf:

and matching hamdwarmers:

It's always a thrill to see my handspun yarn complete it's journey, and also heartwarming to know it's so well loved and will be warming the neck and hands of a dear friend!

Competition Results and Sp12 Comes to an End!

2008-09-25T07:07:00.000-07:00

Ok let's get straight down to business.....I took all the comments from the last post (yes you too Nicole because winning a competition doesn't excempt you from entering another) and put them into the List Randomizer.....in the order in which they were left....

And I pressed the Randomize button and tahdah.....

There they are in the order of randomisation, and the winner is Kim! Well it is fitting that Kim was my first ever swap partner, in a swap organised by Miss Knightingale, she's also recently celebrated a birthday, which almost co-incides with my blogiversary, which I'm pretty sure makes us fraternal twins, ;-) I'll be talking to you pretty soon Kim about which colour STR you would like me to have sent from Blue Moon Fiber Arts! Thanks to everyone for the comments, there were some great suggestions for colourways for me!

This week also brought the arrival of my final Secret Pal 12 Package, here it is before unwrapping, we knew my pal was in Finland, but everything else this far has been kept a Secret.

Unlike my downstream, because I stupidly managed to reveal myself before the second package arrived with him, but luckily he took it in good humour!

First up is a pair of gorgeous handknitted socks that were tucked away in this great little project bag, I've never recieved handknit socks as a gift before, and even better they are a perfect fit!

Edited to add, this sock pattern is called Autumn Lace Socks from the six sox knitalong (ravelry pattern link)
Here we have lots of sweet treats, some chocolate covered bilberries and lingenberries, some tea, ravelry pins, and some special chocolates, very yummy!

A ball of Noro Sock, in gorgeous greens, perfect!

More Finn sheep!

And some Bluefaced Leicester Fibre! This round of SP has been most enjoyable and my dear spoiler has finally revealed herself to be Hanna. Thankyou so much Hannah for being a such a great Secret Pal!

Had to show you that even Willow loves the package, Hannah!

2008-09-15T11:51:00.000-07:00

Yay, I've been spinning again! I do love the subtle colour variations in a two ply yarn, lots of purples, violets, lime and green through these two skeins!

This is Superwash BFL, one of my favourite fibres to spin, it's just so sproingy!

So the blogiversary is Thursday, hard to believe it's been 2 years! I've decided to have a little contest, I was looking at colourways over on the Blue Moon Fiber Arts website, there are so many lovely colours to choose from I've been finding it hard to pick one, so to win a skein of STR for yourself all you need to do is pick one out for me and leave a comment on this post telling me why you've picked that colour.

I'm going to leave the contest open till Thursday 25th September, I will either pick my favourite comment or I'll put all the entries in a random number generator, it really depends how many entries I get!

Obsession is Normal!

2008-09-08T04:28:00.000-07:00

Edited to add this photo of me and the braids hanging too!

Here's Jon, sitting behind our stall just before the doors opened and everyone arrived! For most of the day the stall was surrounded by people fondling fibre and yarn and Jon was rushed off his feet all day as people went wild for his 'sushi sock rolls' a machine knitted handpainted roll which is then handknitted as you unravel, and his bamboo mix too!

At 2pm sharp I left Jon to it, as I hightailed it over the road for the Harlot addressing the masses. It was pouring with rain as we all queued outside Lindley hall, but thanks to my new best friend, whoever you are, who didn't mind sharing her umbrella with me while we waited to get in, I didn't get too wet as I was only wearing a t.shirt!

As I was on my own....I managed to nab a stray seat 4 rows from the front, and who should be there directly infront of me but my friend from City & Guilds Knitting, Heather, and just infront of her Celtic Memory Jo too!

After the talk (it was hilarious and so true, of course) I went for a wander around the other stalls, and settled back with Jon for a bit, but the above photo is just to show you, that Stephanie was seated right behind within almost touching distance, for the rest of the afternoon doing the book signing.

Eventually towards the end of the day, as the queue started to dwindle Luke and I took our places.

Here is Stephanie writing Obsession is normal in my copy of Things I Learned From Knitting! hence the title of this post.

I had a wonderful, wonderful and busy day, not only did lots of nice people come and buy my braids, I got to meet lovely UK Swap Pal, Rosie, blog friends Cassandra, and Jen (again), I met Natalie from the Yarn Yard, and Probably Jane, and even a lurker who reads here, lovely to know I have lurkers! Hi Caroline, and a special hello to Larissa who we queued with for the book signing, and who took the photos for me, and who was lucky on the draw and won a spindle and a whole pile of gorgeous fibre and didn't spin, it was fate, she had to learn and a quick spinning lesson was the order of the day! and hello to anyone else I met in the excitement of the day who wanders in here who I may have forgotten to mention.

So all the excitement doesn't really stop here: I need to get dyeing and get some more fibre up in the etsy store, my 200th post is coming up aswell as my blogiversary, and I've also had a brilliant idea to start Bigsock from the toe up to travel around Europe and the UK, so that when the top of the sock comes back from the US we just need to unite the two parts by grafting!

On My Way!

2008-09-05T06:36:00.000-07:00

By the time you see this I will probably have left for London, I have 7.4 kilos of dyed fibre, that's about 15lbs, and equates to 74 braids!
It would be nice to show you the vast pile of fibre but it's all labelled packed and ready to go!
See you on the other side!

Not More Fibre?

2008-09-01T14:48:00.000-07:00

Yes, indeedy, sorry to be such a blog bore, but all I seem to have to show you at the moment is another instalment in the great fibre mountain that I am in the process of dyeing, infact I've dyed another 1200g in the last 2 days, and will be dyeing at least another 1200g by Weds, but then that's it, as it will all need labelling ready for Saturday!

This is actually last weeks fibre, but we had a short break down to Dorset, so it had all been braided but not photographed. I may get around to showing you some snaps soon, although we've also been entertaining a houseguest from across the pond! I'm hoping we're both going to get to meet the Yarn Harlot on Saturday!

There is a sock on the needles, I'm working on a toe-up Baby Backward Ribs, (ravelry link) in S.R Kertzers, On Your Toes, a gift from Jill, which was all wound and ready to go, perfect for a holiday project!

Fibre Fibre Everywhere...

2008-08-22T01:08:00.000-07:00

But not a drop to spin?!!

Ok I may just have to keep one of these but can you guess which one? Maybe the clue is in the name!!

Edited to add: If you click on the photo it will take you to flickr, I have been naming all my fibres after song titles.

This Weeks Colours

2008-08-16T05:21:00.000-07:00

This weeks colours! Dyeing is beginning to feel like an Olympic Event in this house! I have dyed another 1200g this week. I am preparing stock for I-Knit Day on the 6th September, where I will be helping my lovely SP from SP10 Jon Dunn from Easy Knits.

Bits of Blah!

2008-08-14T11:52:00.000-07:00

Early last week, I recieved a sweet little message in a bottle from my secret pal, isn't it cool!

Then later in the week I had a surprise package, inside were these lovely spinning tools, a wraps per inch gauge (one I can tie to my wheel so I won't lose it), a diz and a plying tool! What a great SP this is turning out to be, thankyou very much pal, hope the weather is being good to you so you can keep on with those knitting picnics!

Last Saturday the 1066 Spinners had been asked to demonstrate at a local fair. The weather forecast had been for scattered showers, but there was a good patch of blue sky when I got up so I set off, and we arrived and set up our stand, unfortunately the blue sky was hiding another outdoor peril, high winds, just after we had set up our table blew over, luckily there were heavier trestles around so we managed to secure one of them! After a couple of hours spinning and being buffeted by high winds I was chilled to the bone, but luckily had my wooly hat in the pocket of my waterproof jacket, have to keep reminding myself that it is August!

We were rained off the field by 1pm, but I had almost spun most of this pretty merino!

I came home divided the last of the fibre, spun a thin single to ply with the thick and thin, and this is what I ended up with! It weighs almost 4 oz (112g) , it's a bulky, about 6wpi, and 70m!

Summer Snippets!

2008-08-07T13:15:00.001-07:00

I have been at the dyepots again this week, I now have a whole bump of merino to play with and I'd forgotten just how much I love merino!

Mosaic Matters!

2008-07-29T05:56:00.000-07:00

I found this over on Angie's and knew I just had to make time to put this together, unfortunately my first attempt this morning timed out while I was visiting the dentist, so I had to do it all over again.

This is how it's done:

1. What is your first name? Joanna
2. What is your favorite food? Fillet steak
3. What high school did you go to? Holbrook
4. What is your favorite color? Purple
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Christian Bale
6. Favorite drink? Tea
7. Dream vacation? Actually I made a mistake with this one and have done my favourite vacation which is Iceland, my dream vacation would be Mexico (oops)
8. Favorite dessert? Angel Delight
9. What you want to be when you grow up? Here
10. What do you love most in life? Colours
11. One Word to describe you. Fluff Magnet (I know it's 2 words but it's so me!)
12. Your flickr name. Limegreenjelly.

Here’s how you do it:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

Go on - you know you want to!

I'm knitting more booties, as they are quite small, and easy, and quick to knit, ready for some craft fairs that are coming up at the end of August and in September.

I've ordered the yarn for my first sweater design and just have a couple of details to tie up before I cast it on!

Nothing has really moved me into going to the cinema since 2005, the last film I saw then was War of the Worlds (Tom Cruise), until now. I've lost count of the time's I have seen Batman Begins as Neo being a typical boy loves superheroes! But it did count up in the heights of my favourite films, up until now that is, Saturday night we booked seats for The Dark Night, and I was on the edge of my seat all night, yes it's DARK, and menacing, and certainly should have a rating of 15, instead of the recommended 12A (going to be a while till Neo sees this one!), but oh what a magical movie, can't wait for the DVD! So I can watch it again and a again in the comfort of my own home!

Booty Call!

2008-07-20T11:29:00.000-07:00

Now this first pair have happily arrived safely in Wyandotte, I can show you them! The pattern is easy to follow, adapt and memorise! They appear in Ravelry twice, almost identical patterns, one is Jane's Baby Booties, the other is Christine's Stay On Baby Booties. Such an easy knit I'm knitting up a couple of pairs with left-over sock wool. The yarn for these is Posh Emily, I think the colourway was Chortle, but I'm not certain, everytime I cast on socks for me with this yarn it pooled more than I could stand, not a problem with booties, and being a squooshy blend of wool, angora and cashmere, just perfect for baby tootsies!

Here we have Clare, modelling a fabulous Finished Object made by a lady called Betty Saunders, a member of the Kent Guild of Spinners Weavers and Dyers!

I'm showing you this fabulous lace stole, well apart from the fact that it is absolutely gorgeous, but Betty spun the yarn and plied with a silk thread, and then knitted it but it started life in my kitchen dyebath! Yep, I dyed the merino, and when I saw this last month at our meeting I had to get some photographs before it found its way to its new home! (It was sold to another member for £38!). I'm slowly gathering a collection of finished objects made with my yarns and fibres, so I'm going to start a Limegreenjelly Gallery group over at Flickr, where people can share their projects!

Special thanks to Clare for modelling, she's got some great new colorways and yarns up in her etsy shop too, I'm lusting after Parakeet at the moment, I just love turquoise, red and black!

Berry Gummy Box!

2008-07-17T06:11:00.000-07:00

It's been a rather dull week, I'm busy with more felted rock, and knitting samples for my first sweater design.
I've also frogged Aprés Surf Hoodie, I was plodding along with it, but thought it looked a little small, only to discover that maybe my gauge was out (I had checked it) I was working on 3mm needles, instead of the recommended 3.25mm) but I think I actually should have been on the 3.25mm after all! I did go out Monday and buy myself the addi circ in the 3.25mm, but when I started to cast it on, I don't know I don't feel like starting it again, maybe I've fallen a little out of love with it, I'm actually thinking maybe I could do something else with the yarn, possibly even design something else, so we'll see!

Just to brighten the week up this came this morning! My first secret pal parcel!

Infact the photo really doesn't do this package justice, but it is a very grey day today, anyway it's a very Berry Gummy Box!
We have some bags of cranberries and blueberries, some gorgeous purple sock yarn, gummy bear needle huggers, gummy bears, a huge bar of berry milk chocolate (which won't last long round here), 2 heart shaped chocolates (Neo and I saw those off soon after the photos!) and 2 large bags of Grey Finn (which is a very rare sheep breed) and really squooshy, it's got the most fabulous crinkly crimp to it too, I'm really looking forward to spinning with this!

Thankyou very much SP, it's a great package, I'm going to head over to ravelry right away and see if I can find a sock pattern for that lovely purple yarn!

I is For.....

2008-07-11T06:18:00.001-07:00

INTARSIA....Ugly intarsia at that, one down and one to go, last months knitting homework!

I thought this cardigan that I knitted about 10 years ago was a brighter more fun example, but spot the deliberate mistake, yup, no intarsia involved. Still fun none the less. The pattern was free in a British Magazine called Essentials, they used to publish sewing and knitting patterns every month. Although the magazine is still produced they stopped doing patterns many years ago, which is when I stopped buying their magazine! 'I don't suppose there's much call for that kind of thing these days'-Little do they know!

I knitted it for my neice, she will be 12 this year, and her brother who is 10 also wore it. The yarn was some kind of crépe acrylic, and I've just been to have a look at the pattern in my archives, it was featured in a Sirdar Booklet called Knitting With Care for Save The Children!

Handspun, this was actually done at the same time as my coil yarn from the same batts, therefore the same colours.

Its quite randomly plied in places as I was plying with 2 threads simultaneously, I'm hoping there is enough for a scarf, using the coil yarn as an edging!

This is SP12 Question of the Week,:

The “perfect sized” stash was a tough question for many of you to answer. Maybe these stash related questions will be easier: 1) What yarn (that you don’t have/haven’t used) would make your stash “complete”? 2) What yarn do you never want to be without?**

In answer to question one, well actually there are alot of yarns that I haven't tried that would make my stash complete, so this is a difficult one!

The yarn I would never want to be without though, to me is an easy one, I wouldn't want to be without my own handspun yarn, imagine no fibre, no spinning, might aswell cut my arms off!Although Noro yarns, and Habu are two of my favourite brands that I wouldn't want to be without either. Infact to be perfectly honest I couldn't imagine life without any yarn at all!

Racing

2008-06-26T14:12:00.000-07:00

I love random, over on Caroline's blog, are some links to random things....like a random lottery ticket, and a random wikipedia article, and finally, my favourite the random word generator.

Racing was my random word for today, I have been racing through June, and here we are on the brink of July.

Also on the topic of Racing I did consider signing up for the Tour de Fleece or the Tour de France Knitalong, but time is conspiring against me at the moment, and although I may find the time to knit every day, it is quite disjointed at the moment. Spinning everyday is a fantasy! Aprés Surf is waiting for me to look up which increases I need to use, because I want to make sure they're leaning the right way. Edited to add, finally looked up the increases and am plodding up the body of Seafoam Hoodie!

Yes the braids, all new colours, most of the top photo have gone to the Kent Show to decorate the Guild's stand with my bunting, but the others will be on etsy later this week!

This weeks SP12 Question is quite an interesting one:

What would you consider the perfect amount of stash?

I guess in some respects I do think I've got quite a good selection of stash, I've got some little habu gems, handspun I haven't decided to de-stash yet, a good selection of different weights, special gifted yarns from special people and I don't tend to buy new yarn unless it's for a specific purpose, because that's how some of the yarn I have bought in the past is still languishing in my stash waiting for the perfect project to come along!

I do lust over yarn, and I do check out people's stash on Ravelry and occasionally I do suffer from a bout of stash envy, but in the main I have enough yarn to keep me busy and the means to buy more if I need it, and enough fibre to keep me busy too, so I think that's perfect for me!

Rock Star

2008-06-21T11:59:00.000-07:00

Recently I was commissioned to make some felted sticks of Rock as a novelty for a local Gallery/Café/Cake shop that will hopefully be opening soon.

For those of you that don't really know what 'Rock' is, there is a great explanation here

The photograph I chose for my labels is St Leonards Pier, unfortunately the Pier was cut in half during the Second World War as protection against invasion and the remains were removed in 1951.

Our SP12 Hostess has asked us a question for week 2:

For week two the question is: As a kid, what did you look forward to most about summer vacation/break/holiday?

As a child our family holiday every year was spent at Butlins Holiday Camp in Clacton. As toddlers we were left in the nursery, and as soon as we were old enough we joined the Beaver Club, and enjoyed all the various activities laid on.

One of my favourite activities was rollerskating and as soon as I was old enough to roam free on my own I would be waiting for the Rollerskating Rink to open. If I went through my box of photographs I know I would find a picture of me skating, but you will have to make do with this one of me in some kind of Beauty Contest (number 16) for the time being.

The swimming pool always sticks in my mind as a novelty, it had windows along one side so you could see people swimming from the street, this wasn't a main road, just a street within the camp!

Aprés Surf has slowed a little while I concentrate on college homework, although I have caught the Moebious bug and cast on for one earlier, I was a little scared it was going to be too small so frogged it and will re-cast on with a few more stitches, and see what happens!

I also recieved a lovely card and fridge magnet from my secret pal this week (waves!) Hello Secret Pal! Thankyou!

Tingle Tangle Tingle

2008-06-14T08:12:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a busy week! Last Saturday night we went to see the Foo Fighters at Wembley. On Sunday it was my City and Guilds knitting class, and I've finally got a couple of garment ideas on paper, and am working out the pattern, but I'm having trouble picking out the yarn. I know I want it to be dark in colour and a 4ply weight, but I keep changing my mind. This morning while browsing yarns online I changed my mind again and thought maybe a cotton yarn would be better, the first samples I have made were knitted in cotton. So I'm going to hold off on the yarn purchase until I've knitted a few more samples. I'm just feeling a bit panicked because I've spent 5 months thinking about this idea instead of actually doing anything.

Yes oops! I've also been doing a little detangling, this is a skein of laceweight cashmere that my friend Clare (Nimu on Etsy) gave to me, it was a small skein and when I untied it to make it into a ball it just turned into a huge tangle, but I'm almost untangled now. The irony is I wasn't really thinking of casting on anything in particular, but just decided I wanted to make it into a ball ready, when the right project presents itself, I just love these colours!

I love these colours too, did I mention I've been trying out some new dyes? This is difficult to photograph but it's a dark mix of Jade and plum with a dash of purple, handspun superwash. The true colour is somewhere between the two photos! (Yes Sandra I know you want me to dye you some, I will be back at the dyepots this week!)

Our SP12 hostess has asked about our favourite Summer Tipple, I tend to be quite set in my ways in that I drink the same drinks all year round, strong tea, hot chocolate and orange squash (cordial), not all at the same time! Although another favourite Summer drink would have to be Kool Aid, I wouldn't want to drink it though!

2008-06-07T05:29:00.000-07:00

I've signed up for Secret pal 12, had to go back to Feb 2007 to find my questionnaire and I've just re-jiggled it!

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I love natural fibres, wool, cotton, linen, I don't like acrylic or eyelash yarnsalthough they do have there place in the grand scheme of things .

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
I did make my straight needles a roll, and am planning to make a customroll for double points, hooks and circulars. (ok my circs are still in a plastic bag, I've also got 2 sets of bamboo double points in padded envelope! so very professional!)

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider yourskill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I first learnt to knit in the Brownies, I did my first sweater aged 12, anddidn't really get into it again until I was 23, I did alot of knitting for 5years but then explored other crafts until last year. I wouldconsider my skill level to be somewhere between intermediate and advanced...Ilike a challenge!

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
I do have an Amazon wish list here

5. What's your favorite scent?
I don't like anything too overpowering... although I'm quite partial to the smell of chocolate and vanilla and I had a completely yummy body lotion once called icing sugar. I don't like lavender, makes me sneeze!

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
I do have a sweet tooth, I like milk chocolate and I like soft centres, strawberry creams, orange creams and peppermint creams, doesn't matter if they come wrapped in dark chocolate if they are this kind of chocolate andgummy bears...I do not like the taste of nuts or dark chocolate on its own.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I LOVE to spin, I spin as much as I can, and dye my own fibre. I also do a bit of collage, painting, needlepoint and sewing.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if yourbuddy wants to make you a CD)
I like an eclectic mix from Marilyn Manson to Doris Day, favourites at the momentare The Chemical Brothers, Hot Chip and Placebo.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
I love most colours....at the moment I love purples, greens, turquoise, and deep colours like aubergine and black! Not so fond of pastels and pinks.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
There's myself, my partner and our son, Neo who is 4 and our cat Willow.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
I wear scarves, hats and mittens...I haven't worn a poncho since 1975. Although you never know!

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
I'll knit anthing that takes my fancy, I like socks and gloves or mittens for smaller portable projects but I love to work on garments too!I'm working on developing my ideas into patterns and studying on a C & GHandknitting course.

13. What are you knitting right now?
I'm knitting the Aprés Surf Hoodie at the moment, I would normally have a small project on the needles but havent got around to winding the wool into balls yet!

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Yes of course!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
I like to use needles appropriate to the project, most of my needles are all aluminium and plastic inherited from little old ladies, although I have a couple of addi turbo circs which are great and have some bamboo double points which I really love.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Yes I have both.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
I don't have any!

18. What is your favorite holiday?
I'm not really a holiday person.

19. Is there anything that you collect?
Loads of things...Yarn and fibre of course! I have a collection of Rubics cube puzzles, I have a collection of colourful paper bags which I have been collecting since I was 18, I've also got a small collection of Vintage Vogue knitting magazines.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your handson? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I have a subcription to Vogue Knitting, my Interweave is coming to an end and I'm wondering whether to have Knit 1 or Knitscene for a change! Nothing in particular I'm dying to get my hands on as such, but I'm a huge fan of Etsy (I'm a seller there), anything from handmade needle cases to bracelets made from knitting needles, or handpainted yarns, and interesting batts, I just believe in supporting the Indie sellers as much as possible.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
I would like to try entrelac, I will have to knit samples for my course so I will get there at some point! I'd also like to find the time to do some thrummed mittens!

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
I am a sock knitter, I am a UK size 5, US 6

23. When is your birthday?
It's April 30th!

24. My Ravelry ID is freestylefibre

H is for....

2008-06-05T02:39:00.000-07:00

HOODIE!

My Summer copy of Interweave Knits arrived on a Saturday morning in May, I started browsing sites for RYC Cashcotton to have a look at the colours Saturday night, and Sunday morning I ordered the yarn. I've never really made such a swift decision over a garment before, maybe it was my restlessness at spending the first 5 months of the year making small (what are to me) insignificant items, that spurred me into action, but I am indeed knitting the Aprés Surf Hoodie, the colour is Seafoam, I'm using 3mm addis, and I love this yarn it's so snuggly and soft!

H is also for Heather, we are both doing the City and Guilds course in handknitting, and we also share a birthday, although Heather is younger than me, Heather has also tagged me for the 5 things Meme so here it is:

The Rules Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

1. What I was doing 10 years ago:

I was 28, I'd recently started a new job with LG Phillips Displays in Newport, South Wales, which I really enjoyed, and I continued working there until they closed down in August 2003, which was fine because I was already halfway through my pregnancy, and ready to put my feet up!

2. What 5 things are on on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):
Upload a little fibre to etsy (done)
Update the blog (done)
Finish my C & G homework
Do some design drawings for my first C & G garment (this has been on the to do list for quite some time)
Clean the car (this has been on my list for a couple of weeks!)

3. Snacks I enjoy:
this is easy, mini jammy dodger biscuits, milk chocolate (buttons are the current favourite), iced gems, strawberry pencils and mini jelly babies.

4. Things I would do if I was a billionaire:
Buy some nice houses, make sure all my friends had everything they needed, travel the world (with bigsock in a private jet) until it's complete and n the record books, think this is enough to keep me busy!

5. Places I have lived:
Shotley
Ipswich
Newport
Cardiff
St Leonards-on-Sea

I shall tag Marianne,Hedgewitch,Mrs Woman, Kim and anyone else who wants to play along!

Finis!

2008-05-30T04:11:00.000-07:00

Another finished object! These are Sulafaye's Swirl Socks, modified over 60 sts. the yarn is Socks That Rock Lightweight in Highway 30. It's a lovely colourway which I was lucky enough to win over at Jill's a while ago. I love the classic lines of this sock, with a twist! They are actually the same length, the left sock must have been pushed down a little in the photo!

Have just finished weighing, braiding and labelling this lot, ready for Saturday's Guild meeting, and what's left will be up on Etsy nexy week.

G is for....

2008-05-21T05:51:00.000-07:00

Garter Stitch

Garter stitch triangles! These are going to be made into bunting to decorate the Kent Guilds stand at the Kent show. We were given a small bag of fibre with three colours in, I also added some extra colours from my stash and spun a fine 2ply yarn, I actually got 85metres from 20g which just made four triangles although I did have to spin a couple more yards to finish the last triangle.

Greens

I am quite behind with my ABC, but still hoping to get there in the end the restriction I have imposed upon myself to keeping it craft themed has held me up a little, I have got some ideas for H so I better get knitting!

Again apologies for the delay in drawing the Ashes of Roses Contest, there were 5 correct entries, the book (and following mini series) I was referring to was (of course) The Thorn Birds by Colleen Mc Cullough, when I set the contest I went over to YouTube and found a few clips, oh how the music just catches me and gets me blubbing all over again!

Anyway without further ado the winner as drawn from the bucket by Neo today was Ikkinlala, now I can't find a bloglink for you so I do hope you pop back and check, please e-mail me and we can have a chat about what sort of prize you would like.

Talking of contests, I must show you these socks, the fibre was a superwash bluefaced leicester, dyed by me and won by Peri in the last contest I held, aren't they fabulous!

Colours

2008-05-02T06:56:00.000-07:00

I was attempting to copy and paste the lyrics to a favourite Hotchip song called Colours here, but I'll link to it instead as the words would not stay where I put them!

I recently invested in Pluckfluff's new book Intertwined, there's alot more information about how to go about making some of the yarns that appeared in the first book, and it also goes on to show examples, and ideas of projects for those 'art' yarns. This is my first attempt at a supercoil yarn.

This is the second 100g of a fibre that I dyed and spun last weekend, I just wanted to show you the 'before' and 'after' shots! I might get the second one spun this weekend!

It's still only half as fine as I intended, but pretty just the same I guess! I also wonder if you can see the similarity in colours, this is a pure co-incidence, the coil yarn was a bunch of colours and textures I randomly carded with the drum carder, but I realised after I'd spun the 1st hank of fibre how similar the colours were.

I will get around to drawing that competition next time!

Fibre Friday!

2008-04-25T07:49:00.000-07:00

New colours I've hand painted this week, this last one is my favourite, the greens, turquoise, yellow and aubergine!

Time for Tea?

2008-04-16T05:27:00.000-07:00

I've finally got some FO's atlast! Here are the cakes I've been knitting!

I've also been dyeing again and actually got my arse in gear to upload them all to my etsy shop for once!

I've called this pink colourway Ashes of Roses, like the colours of rose petals as they start to dry out and turn brown. I've decided to hold a little birthday contest, if you know the book where I have taken this colourway from then leave a comment with your answer and I will do a drawing from the correct entries at the end of the month, in the event of no correct answers I will do a drawing from all comments on this post, so say something, make a guess, whatever you like!

You could win a choice of handspun yarn or fibre from my etsy store, or a special skein of yarn from my stash!

Edited to add: ok I googled to see what would come up, and yes there is a book with that title, but the book I'm thinking of was published in 1977!

F is for....

2008-04-01T06:59:00.001-07:00

Fibery Frolics!

Yes I know I've done F, but being a fibre fiend I knew F would be never-ending!

I dyed 800g last week! Ok only 600g to show you as I only took photos of the top two for Fiber Friday, last weeks theme was Rainforest and I dyed these top two with that in mind!

I sold all but these last 2 pink Shetland at the Guild on Saturday!

So these will be uploaded to etsy later!

I just finished spinning this last week. This is a handspun wool/silk/angora blend which was custom dyed for me by Freyalyn who I met at Woolfest last year! I want to knit it into something, which is why one skein is already balled, I have been swatching, unfortunately I thought I was going to do a Swiss Cheese scarf, but (doh) I don't have enough, I really need double this. I have 50g, 200m which is enough to make some kind of lace pattern, I just want something simple, classic, but quirky!