Yarn on the Brain

the weather is so beautiful outside, sunny and warm with a light breeze from the SW,  the bay tree is in flower and the garden is filled with the sound of insects. perfect weather for spinning in the garden and walking around barefoot on the grass.

I finished the scarf, something I've needed since before Christmas as the one i have just isn't enough, just in time for all this warm weather were having...typical. never mind though, once id got the hang of not YO for the last stitch (and subsequently causing me to be very confused as to why i had 13 stitches on the needle and not 12)  it went like a dream. its so comfy to wear and is warm as toast. the cowl project I've been planning to do next may get postponed though as if the weather continues on in the same vein i wont get to wear it till October.

I spent most of yesterday trying to distract myself from the beautiful handspun silk/wensleydale  DK sitting dripping in the garden. i sat there trying not to think about how much i wanted to finger crochet it into a summer hat or imagining how it might come out (slouchy, lots of big holes, maybe something like fishnet stitch).  this morning i come downstairs all chirpy, thinking "it has to be dry, its had two days now, including one spent hanging in the sunshine for hours, it has to be dry" and what do i find? damp yarn that's what. looks like today is going to be yet another day of trying not to think about finger croched, summer hats patterns or that wensleydale silk handspun in the garden.

at the moment (in an effort not to think too much about aforesaid yarn) i am halfway through spinning this

its going to be lovely, ive added lots of beads in and i hope my friend, whome its intended for, will like it. it should make amazing pixie hair when its done.

Suprise!!

yes, i know. you didn't expect another blog entry quite so soon. well I just had to share the good news, I've finally got my head in gear and photographed some of my freeform finger crochet hats, which also means everyone gets to have a look at what I've been up to for the past month. Enjoy!

Dyeing days

Wow, its been ages since I've done one of these. Just to let you all know, I haven't actually fallen off the planet (so far anyway). January has just been, in keeping with national average, a very slow month for me. but now its February and though the weather is still pretty bleak its betting warmer  the first signs that spring is actually coming after all are appearing and  life is finally starting to get back to some sort of normal rhythm.

The finger Crochet is going well, sadly still no pictures though I'm hoping to get something up on the shop in the near future so keep your eyes peeled. But the big news of the week is that I have finally fallen off the wagon and brought a spinning wheel. Ive never used one before (its all been spindles up till now) so needless to say I'm pretty intimidated by it and everything I've managed to produce on it looks like its been mangled by a dog. but I'll get there in the end (just don't expect any photos of anything I've made on it for quite a while).

Last week A group of friends and I got together and had a weekend dyeing party, needless to say we all ended up with hands of one colour or another even though we were wearing gloves. sadly i have very few photos of this as the camera decided to play up and ate most of them, for reasons that are , as usual, beyond my comprehension. those that follow are the best of what I managed to salvage from the camera.

 we must have dyed some where around 3kg of fiber over the course of 2 days. this is my stash, 300g of Falkland top and about the same of a mix of Mohair, Romney and Texel X fleece. which is now picked and waiting to be carded into awesome textured batts with a whole stash of other goodies.

Sleigh Bells

I don't know if its the cold making me sluggish, but all i want to do at the moment is curl up with my crochet/spinning in front of the fire. It snowed again in the night, and the garden is dusted white with it, looks like we may get a white Christmas! I've put all the decorations up in my room and am feeling really christmassy, I may even spin a Christmas yarn to celebrate (I'm thinking something along the lines of "sleigh bells")

I finished the Hat/Scarf (still haven't come up with a better name for it though), and I'm so happy with it. its really comfortable to wear and really really warm. just what the doctor ordered in this cold weather. I sewed some lovely vintage buttons on it and also left some of the ends on as little tassels, which i think gives a really nice effect.

I had my birthday at the beginning of the month, so have a lovely new pile of fibre (and some books) to add to my stash. right now I'm half way through Debbie Stoller's "Happy hooker" crochet guide ( i thought i  might as well see what I'm actually supposed to be doing as up 'till now all I've had is an A4 sheet with the basic stitches on it and a couple of very nice ladies who taught me the basics), I'm really enjoying it and have even bought one of her other totals "Stitch and bitch, the knitters hand book" to see if i cant get a hang of this knitting lark.
I must have made about 10 hats by now the scarf/hat is number 6 or something (I'll take some photos next week of some of the others), some I've given away, but I'll have to start doing something with them very soon, before they take over my what little space i have left that isn't full of wool, yarn or fibre equipment







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A Crocheter at Heart.

the snow has been coming down in sheets..well sheets for round here anyway. we've had at least 2-3", and its bitterly cold. everything is frozen, even the doors and hand brake on the car were frozen yesterday, and my father had a rather nasty moment with the brakes as well. thankfully I'm keeping myself warm with hot drinks, copious amounts of clothing and the toasty cat sitting on my lap. I've also been finger knitting neck warmers and hats to keep myself busy. I'm halfway through making a hat with a scarf attached (I know, not the catchiest name in the world. I'll come up with something better eventually).

me in my finger crochet hat from last week and my snazzy new neck warmer which is super toasty, now if only i could work out how to make gloves with fingers and id be set.

my half done scarf/hat thing. its the first hat I've crochet from the top down, rather than from the bottom up, and i think i definitely prefer this technique. you get a hat that fits much better.

the bag i knitted ages ago, but neglected to photograph till now

I feel like I've really hit my stride with finger crochet. its funny, it never really clicked for me when i was using a hook. I suppose i just work better when i get hands on. with knitting, I found I'm doing it for the end object, with finger crochet, I'm doing it to enjoy the process of making something. Ive heard people say that your either a knitter or a crocheter (a saying i always thought couldn't be right, why couldn't you be good at both), I just suppose I'm a crocheter at heart.