250...a nice round number!

I am now putting square 250 on the Weavette.  I am aiming for 272 squares for a blanket that's 17 x 16. I still haven't chosen a colour to join them with or attempted to crochet any together. I try to tell myself that by the time I've joined 272 squares I'll be an expert, but I don't really have that much belief in my crochet skills. I'm not sure how long it's going to even take to join that many squares, watch this space!

I finally knuckled down and finished the 6m warp on Ruby (my Saori loom). I think I finished it off New Years Eve and New Years Day. Not got any definite plans for it at the moment, just vague musings for the time being!

So January arrived and I decided not to leave Ruby standing idle, but what to weave. I dug through the stash and found this handspun merino/angora/silk. There wasn't alot of it,(200m) it was spun back in 2008 and was actually dyed by Freyalyn. I hadn't taken delivery of my warping board or cross holder so I decided to keep it simple and work this yarn into a spaced warp scarf. I used an upright lazy kate as a makeshift cross holder and the actual warping, tying and weaving went painlessly. I did a little hand fulling (doesn't take me long to get bored of it) and I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.

Spurred on by the success of the spaced warp scarf and seeing a 7 Warp Weavalong in one of the Saori groups on Ravelry I decided I would give this a go, still without the warping board. I picked seven yarns from a bargain bag of part balls that had followed me home the week before. I then proceeded to make the warp holding all 7 yarns at once....this was probably the first mistake, then I didn't tie it properly and lost my cross. It was only a 3m warp so I decided to battle it out and get it on the loom.  Infact the whole thing was a battle, I had issues with tension due to the way the yarns were going in the clipping rod, some of the yarns were slipping and others were too thick, I also had tensioning problems with it on the loom, all part of the steep learning curve. There were times I thought I might have to give it up, cut it off the loom and chuck it in the bin, but I do have a stubborn streak and a waste not want not attitude.

So what does February have in store? for starters more squares,  if I can manage 3 squares a day I will have almost reached my target by next weekend, and warping Ruby for another weavalong in different Saori group. Then I'm going to tackle the handspun cardigan scraps yarn again. A wise woman has told me to set myself 5 goals, if I complete the 5 I can have 5 more....they are not quite set in stone but top of the list (obviously) is to finish The Blanket of Perseverence, 2 is to make the Handspun Cardigan. Other projects are floating around the grey matter at the moment but one thing I would really like to achieve this year is some handmade clothing, whether it be woven, knitted or sewn.

November.....

So I am and have been taking at least 2 photos every day this month, that's creative isn't it, and every day I am posting 2 different photo's in 2 groups. I've also been posting one of these photo's over on flickr. The prompts come from fatmumslim. So no there's nothing really new about taking a photo everyday, someone posted it in our Feb 11 group on facebook and I liked the idea so much I got some friends and friends of friends to start another group, which is why I'm posting twice. The photo's you haven't seen which I'm not posting on flickr mainly feature my little Feb 11 man. Not that he's shy, I just want to keep flickr neat and tidy because I thought at the end of the month I can do a mosaic of all my supposedly arty shots.

Just for the record here is a shot of the little man from earlier this week:

So what else have I been upto, there hasn't been alot of weaving, I did weave a quick scarf on the AKL the week before last, no photo's of that yet and there is absolutely no knitting mojo at the moment.

Yesterday I did a nice little dyeing workshop for the 1066 Spinners which went really well, and next week I am going to be doing a little workshop at Hollington Library transforming these:

Into this:

actually I won't be doing much.....just showing people how to add the cream, berries and leaves, and sending them home with a Christmas Pudding to hang on the tree!

I still haven't captured a nice photo of the handspun warp and weft scarf I completed while demonstrating at Coastal Currennts,  so busy taking daily photos, there haven't been any photos of anything else happening.....this month does look pretty hectic, hopefully things will slow down in December!

Another month!

Alot has happened in the last month......the children have gone back to school. The weather has been doing all kinds of unpredictable things, where you wake up and dress for Autumn and by the afternoon it was sweltering heat again.

I have been very busy aswell and spent a couple of weekends out and about demonstrating at Coastal Currents Open Studios in the Old Town and just before that Ruby arrived:

Ruby is my new loom,  a Saori WX60. Thanks have to go to Woolforbrains for telling me to drape a table cloth over it. That table cloth is like a cloak of invisibility, which is good because I don't want those toddler fingers poking at Ruby.

I'm slowly weaving on Ruby at the moment, (quite ironic as I bought her to speed things up) but I am lacking a decent light to weave by, but hoping to remedy this soon! I took a while to settle on a weaving height too, but the bed seems just right.

The final photo is the weaving I have just taken off the loom, it's about 80cm long and 25cm wide, I just wanted to have a look and feel the fabric and think about what I might do with it. I have started a new piece with the same colours, I might try and go off at a tangent and weave larger stripes with different textures peeking through, or I might carry on just as I am, infact I don't really know what I'm doing and I still don't know what I'm going to do with it but the main thing is I'm enjoying what I'm doing!

I've just been winding some balls to put a warp on my Knitter's Loom too, as if my attention wasn't stretched enough.

I did make a lovely completely handspun scarf while weaving at Coastal Currents, when we get a brighter day I will attempt to get a photo as I'm really pleased with the way it turned out!

Getting better!

I finished this yarn at the end of August, it's merino, I really like these colours!  I have recently finished another skein and have decided it's definitely time to get knitting on my handspun cardigan before I spin any more....I haven't cast anything on though. I need to do a couple of swatches but my knitting mojo is still awol!

Neo thought this was hilarious, no they're not my missing marbles....infact I'm not going to tell you what they are just yet......obviously balls of some kind....all will be revealed soon!



Not sure how these photos are going to look, I've copied them from flickr, it's the first substantial piece of cotton I've ever woven, and the most Saori, experimental piece. It's been waiting for me to make it into a bag, I suppose that's the good thing with scarves, apart from washing and fringes they don't really need alot doing with them once they come off the loom.

Last week I warped up the width of the loom so Neo could weave a cushion for his room, we've been recycling some of his old tshirts into yarn, once the cushion pad arrives I am going to let him loose on the sewing machine to help me complete the project!

So Where Was I.....

yes well good intentions don't write a weekly blog post unfortunately and before you know it we're in August! I haven't been keeping up with posting some of the things I've been working on, which was the primary point of keeping a blog in the first place, but I'm going to try and catch up and stick with it!

Of course the first problem I encounter is Blogger for some reason wants to turn my photo on it's side, when it's already the right way up, so I've high tailed it over to flickr and will copy it in from there!



So this was the scarf warped up in February.....not sure when it was finished and felted.

I then warped up some very fine yarn (this was in a bag of donated cones) It's a wool and silk blend and I have about 4 or 5 cones of this, one in each colour. It breaks really easily, so I was a bit apprehensive about putting it on the loom, I based the size on a linen and silk fine scarf that I own, but if I do another one I will make it narrower! I finally gave in and ironed the fringe this week, as it's a singles yarn it goes a bit mad when it's washed and I had to wash it twice, mainly because I was being careful, but also because a sample square I washed shrunk!



I also started a bit of spinning while the Tour De Fleece was on, I didn't join any teams, but I did make an effort to spin every day.



This was a fine silk which I had dyed myself.



and this was a superwash/cashmere/nylon blend.

Coming next time....there has been a long cotton project on the loom and that silk has been woven too! I've also managed to spin another 100g and have more spinning on the wheel, if I can just get caught up maybe I can stay caught up!

Casting On.....and On

I have had good intentions of getting back to the blog this year, but have let life get in the way....anyway I'm here now!

So here I am, February 24th. Back in November I was weaving cowls and hoping to sell a few bits at a craft fair, unfortunately I didn't sell much at the craft fair but I did manage to spin this:

This was only the second skein of yarn I made last year, but oh it was lovely to get back to spinning on the wheel. It is hard to fit it all in these days, spinning, weaving, knitting and dyeing....everything has to take turns so if the loom is out the spinning wheel is away, although for a few weeks the knitting has been in the naughty corner and I've been back weaving blanket squares on the weavette! Small things like knitting and weaving can be hidden away from the toddler behind the chair...but weaving and spinning are harder to keep out of his way!

I have been lucky enough to be sent a  review copy of  The Weavers Idea Book from the people at Search Press, and it's a fab book, I won't go on and on about it because I should get a review up, but I did warp up a spaced warp just before Christmas:

I bought some Wash and Filz It Fine Felting Wool for this project, although next time I will use some handspun! I didn't have time to get much weaving done before Christmas so this was the first project off the loom this year! I have got some pre wash photos but it really needs a little blocking and a photo shoot to do it justice. Something to show when I get round to it!

My knitting mojo went a bit AWOL last year so Christmas was approaching and I decided it was time to get knitting that sweaters worth of scraps yarn I have...so did a little swatching and cast on....the rib was too sproingy so I recalculated and cast on less stitches....I knit and knit and knit over Christmas....tried it on a few times got as far as the armpits and left it in the naughty corner for a bit....decided I didn't like it and finally frogged it after a second opinion....I then spent days looking at patterns on Ravelry (again) and started knitting a top down cardigan...following a pattern that was written for a heavier yarn at a different gauge, bound to be a winner (not).... but that isn't working either. In the mean time I would really like to be knitting something.....so I'm knitting a Mizzle for Clare at Nimu with some yarn she has sent me....so she can display it at shows she is attending this year.....I cast on last night, the yarn is her new silk and baby camel, it's gorgeous!

BusyBusy!

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!

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?

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!

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!

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!!!

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!

 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!

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!

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

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!