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.

All Golden

The Summer sun seems, finally, to be creeping over the horizon. spring is definitely in the air and, due to being held back by the harsh winter, Cornwall is painted with golden fields of early daffodils. we are literally smothered in them down here, you cant go for a walk without falling over the things. the beaches are beautiful and the water is clear, if bone chillingly cold. the wintry winds are still roaming around though leaving a toasty day to turn chilly very fast, so keep that coat on a little longer, you might just need it.

I think i may have finally figured out why I've been in such a slump with the spinning, I started a spinning journal the other day (something I've been meaning to do for ages) and suddenly realised I'm making the same yarn over and over ...semi worsted, slubbed, aran, 2ply, spun short draw,  ....I'm am the proverbial record stuck on a scratch. so i consciously chose to do something new, something i haven't tried before, something that would push the envelope so to speak. and this is what i ended up with...

And I Loved it! i had so much fun and really enjoyed it, even when i overdid the uneven plying and one of the singles gave up the ghost it didn't phase me. well, OK, i did swear a bit when it wouldn't splice back together but a nice square knot sorted that out a treat.

Since i haven't blogged in a while (yes, yes, very bad me) i have loads of lovely yarns to show you. and this one (Weedy Seadragon), and its identical twin, are going to be a lovely scarf in this pattern. I've got the yarn, I've found the knitting needles, now all i need to do is work out what on earth a YO and TURN consist of and I'm in business.
Anyway, enough of that for now...Bring on the eye candy!!

 Cherry Red, hand dyed Falkland spun super bulky

 Sweet surprise, hand dyed Falkland spun bulky

Perfect Day, merino, nylon, mohair, throwsters spun bulky

Camera Troubles

I have just spent the last 4 hours in an epic battle of wills with my brothers new camera, in an attempt to get at my photos. But I've finally succeeded and here are the fruits of my labors, photos of some of my newly spun yarn.

I've been very busy, it seems to be the trend this winter, making things, spinning yarn and getting organised. I even discovered a new craft to fall in love with...Finger Crochet, which is great as crochet has never really clicked for me before and I'm now hooked on making crochet hats. As Ive finally got the camera to talk to my computer I'll have to take some photos so everyone can have a look. As I seem to have finally reached a lull point in all the busyness, hopefully I will be able to update the blog on a more regular basis.

                                                

Just couldn't resist this batt

Autumn Chrysanthemums, hand dyed by me, I'm very happy with the colours I maneged to get 

Love those neps, such a bright colour

Buisy, buisy, buisy

Life has gone nuts recently, Ive got a couple of fairs coming up and I suddenly realised i didn't have enough stock. so, as is traditional, I've been working like mad to make everything I think I'll need. the good news is that there should be some up dates to the shop very soon as I've been spinning skeins, dyeing top and knitting some pretty funky gloves. as i cant fit everything I've made into a post i thought id put up a small selection of my favourites for everyone to drool over. enjoy!

these are some of the Mad Mitts I've been knitting, their so textured and gorgeously soft. the ones on the right are hand dyed by me, the others are going to be my mothers Christmas present.

some of the Falkland I've been dyeing

one of my newest hotch potch batts, which will make an awesome hat when its done.

anyway, back to the madness that is currently my life.

If you fancy seeing my shop in person I'll be at the following fairs.

23rd Nov, Lizard Christmas market, Lizard reading room.

6th Dec, Helston Eco fair, coinage hall.

If any ones passing by, stick your head in and say hi.

Drained

Unfortunately, this week i have succeeded in contracting a lovely cold bug that my brother very thoughtfully brought home. due to this wool production has ground to a halt, which is very annoying as i was planning to do some dyeing. I wanted to dye a whole slew of reds, and so far the fibre has been sitting in a bucket of vinegar water for 4 days now as Ive been unable to manage it. I've spun some beautiful yarn as well and was planning to set it (again, something that isn't currently happening). hopefully by next week, I'll be over this enough to take some pictures as they're relay lovely. including these batts, which have been transformed into a lovely thin single full of unexpected goodies.

so, till next week everyone! 

Freezing fingers

Summer has definitely given way to autumn now, the wind is cold and the air has that strange fragile quality to it, the leaves are already thick underfoot and it won’t be long till the first frosts are coating the veg patch with spirals of silver. so I've decided to attempt to make a pair of fingerless gloves (cold fingers and spindles not being the best of friends), and this pattern for hand warmers I found on Ravelry appealed to me as they look well within my current ability level (otherwise known as the "what am I doing with the pointy sticks again?" stage) as they're knitted flat then sewn up the side and don't have finger holes (which are apparently "tricky" ).

so far they seem to going reasonably well, even though I seriously considered chucking the whole lot out the window after having to redo the first two rows at least 5 times (thankfully the parent showed me what I was doing wrong before I did anything I might have regretted).

Hopefully they’ll work out as I’m planning to make a pair for a friends birthday. I've alredy started spinning the yarn which, so far,  has been very interesting as although I’ve blended for texture and colour before, I’ve never blended for different fibre characteristics. As gloves the yarn needs to be soft and warm but also durable. So I decided to blend super soft merino fleece with some angora and llama and a bit of BFL and astle milk morrit to increase durability. This seems to be working pretty well but I cant realy tell how well its worked till I start knitting it up.

Why tidyness in a bad thing

I had a bit of a tidyup the other day and suddenly realised just how many batts I have carefully set aside over the past couple of months with the intention of spinning and then accidentally forgotten about . so it seems, as there is such dire need, I will have no choice but to embark on a spinning session of epic proportion. I've been at it for 2 days so far, with a bit of batt making thrown in for variety, and have so far produced 3 skeins (as well as 4 very large batts). hopefully today will be equally productive.
I've decided to enter one of my skeins in the local harvest festival show, how could i refuse when they had a  section labeled "craft work- any other medium". so far I'm halfway through spinning up some of my hand dyed fibre and whichever is my favourite is the one I'm going to put in.

Colour my world

I've been a busy bee this week, yesterday i woke with the overwhelming desire to dye some fibre. so, I got the kit out and mix the stock solutions with no clear idea of what colours I wanted, and this is what came out the other end...

I was a bit enthusiastic with the chopstick when it was in the pan and accidentally felted it ever so slightly in a couple of places, I've definitely learned to be more gentle next time. It finally dried overnight and I ran it through the ram carder this morning with some other goodies to turn out this beauty

I found the perfect pattern for my next knitting adventure, a lovely pair of fingerless gloves I found on Ravelry. My hands always get cold when I'm spinning in the winter and these look perfect, you knit them flat and then sew them up leaving a thumb hole. sounds nice and strait forward, especially as its got some stitches in the pattern i haven't used before. I've spun up 100g of  falkland/merino top dyed by BabyLonglegs, in a lovely turquoise/purple/blue colourway (Its actually brighter in real life) 

I've also spun a slightly chunkier skein in a matching colour, think I may knit it into a hat. I swear I'm going to end up with more hats than I'll know what to do with, maybe I should consider making some as Christmas presents or something.

I started spinning up some of my new silk batts, fresh off the carder. they were so nice i just couldn't keep my hands off them. I think I'm going to call them "nothing but blue skies"

the bee's are gathering up the last of the summers nectar, its getting cold and they're becoming less active, soon they'll go into hibernation in their burrows, snuggled up warm against the cold. I know how they feel, the sudden cold is making me want to curl up on the sofa in front of the fire with a nice cup of hot chocolate and stay there till spring comes round.

Yarn Update

Just a small selection of some beautiful yarns I've had cooking for a while.

I really need to get spinning, I have so much fibre (all of it deserving to become something beautiful) and only limited storage space. I just don't seem to be able to find the moments to spin it, life keeps interrupting.

I have a great batt mixture in the works though, very middle eastern colours, cant wait to see how it cards up. but for now I'll sneak you a peak at some of the yarn ive been making.

the tomatoes are starting to drop of the branches in the greenhouse, and everything is bountiful in the veg patch. I love this time of year, when everything on our plates (except the meat) is our own home grown. I hope everyone else is having a good harvest season, with enough veg to enjoy some next year.

Head Space

I decided I needed to knuckle under, I've feel like I've been waiting for something to happen which is back to front, people can spend their entire lives waiting for something to happen, you need to get out there and make something happen. so, I've got myself in a good head space and am now spinning up new stock, which seems like a positive thing to do and what needs to be happening. at the moment I'm working my way through 200g of Tree Nymph batts, I've don't 100g so far and am just starting on the next spindle full. cant wait till they're done. I love the greens, and every so often you get a surprise splash of the shiny turquoise nylon which is such fun.

Pour Passer Le Temps

Just a short post today, thought I'd show you all what I've been up to.

these two skeins are hopefully going to be knitted into a stripy pair of arm warmers as theyr so soft and lovely I couldnt bear to part with them.

As I haven't been feeling very well I decided to treat myself and test out some of  JazzTurtles new fibre, I mixed it up with a load of other stuff from my blending box and these beauties are the result.

As you can see I've been keeping busy. The bag will soon be done as well, I found some beautiful batik dyed cloth in the local fabric shop and have used it to line the inside, all i need to do now is spin a nice chunky 4-ply for a strap and then sow it all together.

Rock Bottom

Having hit rock bottom energy wise I am now attempting to climb out of the hole created by catching some sort of bug (species unknown) which has caused me to sleep almost nonstop for the last 4 days. other than that i have zero symptoms , not even the sniffles, so there does seem to be an upside.
I have finally started a knitting project that has been on the cards for quite some while now, a knitted bag. right now its still unsown as I'm going to get some material to line it with, and hopefully a catch, later in the week. I used a lovely hotchpotch batt which i spun into a chunky single for the project and it looks so good, now all i have to do is make up my mind about how i want the strap (I like my bags to be hands free, less hassle that way) and it'll be sorted.

there are also some beautiful yarns in the works so expect, I just need to set the twist and then i can photograph them.

Batt Bananza

I've just remembered that Monday is booked solid, so I've had to move the up date further into the week (possibly wed, have to see how it goes). therefore sit back and enjoy this alternative program of Eye candy instead.

 Ive finally finished my mammoth batt card (1kg of fibre!) so have lots of lovely goodies to share. I'm not going to show you everything, as most of it will be in the update and i don't want to spoil the surprise for everyone, but hopefully there will be plenty to drool over.

I made a massive 7 of these batts, which I've decided to call Tree Nymph. I'm also going to pull a couple into roving, which is always lovely to spin.

these are a new idea I had this morning (yes, they are that fresh), HotchPotch minibatts! great fun, never the same twice

this is something i spun for the tour de fleece, I was intending to include it in the update, but i just cant bear to do that, it breaks my heart too much. so I'm going to keep it instead, even though i have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do with it.  

this skein just screams Punk Rock, its got tons of attitude and goodies hidden in it.

the first of the Candyfloss Carnival batts, so lovely and soft.

Tree Nymph minibatts, very pretty.

Anyway, hope your all looking forward with anticipation now I've whetted your appetites, as there's more to come very very soon. 

Yarn Dreaming

I've been spinning like a daemon, well, except for yesterday where i got slightly caught up in carding some beautiful batts. I usually name my yarns after the blend, so the first is called candyfloss carnival. I haven't named the second one yet, I usually don't name hotchpotch batts, but this one is so special i think it deserved one...have to have a hard think and see if i can come up with something appropriate.

I've also started the knitting project with the the green yarn (subsequently decided to name it sea green), no pictures as yet though as its at the visually uninspiring stage. I feel a bit like I've jumped in at the deep end. previously all I've ever knitted are scarves, and the typical plain all the way down variety at that. this is a hat on DPN's and I've also had to learn to cast on, which was rather intimidating to say the least. haven't quite got the hang of the juggling you have to do to knit with 3 needle's in your hand at once, its trickier than it looks. anyway, hopefully it will be far enough along soon that i can take a couple of pictures to share with everyone. hopefully it wont drive me nuts before then (this is my first attempt at actually enjoying knitting, so far its going quite well as i haven't thrown it across the room yet),hopefully this will continue.

Being Brave

Ive been at the drum carder again, having fun with the lovely hand dyed merino fleece that i was saving for a special occasion (well, until i was brave enough to put it through anyway).

Desert Sun. isn't it lovely, makes me want to go on a long Holiday somewhere hot. A friend of mine goes to Dubai once a year and when he comes back he always paints these amazing golds and cinnamon's and bright intense blues, maybe I'll one day go there and experience all those beautiful colours he loves so for myself.

this batt was so pretty i decided it deserved two pictures.

Today it the beginning of the Tour De France and (for those of us on Ravlery anyway) that means the beginning of the Tour de fleece challenge, which may possibly be my favourite spin-a-thon. I've been rummaging through my stash of fiber to come up with some beautiful fiber to spin, so expect an influx of lovely new yarns in the next few weeks. like this lovely falkland number (freshly spun today)

 

Bountiful Promise

Another scorcher of a day and the veg are beginning to look a bit desperate, have to get the watering can out this evening or wave goodbye to any hope of fresh salad in the near future. Really reminds you how close starvation is if you rely totally on what you yourself grow, drought suddenly becomes a much bigger problem than "oh dear, the lettuce have copped it, have to pop down the shop and buy one instead". On the bright side, we have baby veg appearing, cant wait till its all big enough to be picked and eaten.

I've been drum carding again, and though more pics may appear soon, this one is so lovely i had to share.

think i may call it something like Candyfloss Carnival, Its so lovely and fluffy, all cormo and alpaca and throwsters, with a big handful of merino thrown in for good measure

I'm also currently working my way through 200g of Falkland (isn't it lovely), spinning it nice and thin, just right for summer.