I’m Painting A Blanket! With Handspun Yarn…

I hope you are having a fantastic day!

I have found the PERFECT project for my handspun bits! It is a free pattern available through Ravelry, called “Patchwork Knitting”.

I’ve got so very many balls or small skeins which I have collected over the years and this blanket should be an excellent showcase for them. There are a lot of naturals as well as handdyes in the mix – plenty of silk, cashmere, camel and alpaca in addition to wools. I’m including nothing but handspun and I think it’ll be a great way to look back at my progress. Because the yarns vary in weight I’m stranding them together to an approximate worsted weight and knitting on a 4.5 mm circular needle.

I may have to spin some more yarns specifically for this blanket but we’ll have to see as I go….

Ahhhh….A Glorious 13 Day Holiday!

Good morning!

I’m fighting the urge to go in multiple directions at once lol. Holidays do this to me. I want to wash fleece, prep fleece, spinnnnnnnn (well that one was sort of a given!). Also wanted to super clean the house, arrange everything within an inch of it’s life and organize my already spun yarn so I can properly post it all on my handspunyarn.wordpress.com site.

13 days is not as long as it sounds…

So far I have accomplished some of my goals (we are currently on the 6th day). I have managed to build a database and to list all of my already spun yarns on it, or at least everything which I have not already wound into balls, and was labelled at least somewhat – there are some stragglers I admit!

Here are some of the new additions to the site…

I washed fleece, weighed fleece and took inventory of fibers…

The fleeces/wool….

The silks…I do love silks….

Just beautiful for blending with wools or spinning on their own!!

Then there are the odds and ends – a bit of cashmere, some camel, huacaya alpaca, suri alpaca etc…they really require another collage to show properly 🙂

So, feeling oh-so-organized and have also managed to rewash the targhee x fleece shown in the first collage – it is drying now. The cvm lamb and rambouillet fleeces were washed during the first couple days of holidaying. There is something so appealing about freshly washed, beautifully fresh smelling, soft and fluffy fleeces — truly addictive lol.

The side effect of building the database was that I ended up completely cleaning out and updating all my computer programs, and adding a couple more programs…even the computer feels oh-so-organized now!

I DID finish a knitting project (I think I hear the trumpets) and am so very very pleased with it!

I knitted it with the bond/rambouilet cross fleece/4 ply/light worsted weight or dk. I’ll have to get one of my girls to take a picture and post it as soon as I can 🙂

Have a fantastic day – I’ll be trying to figure out how to relax!

Please check out my handspun yarn site if you might be interested in any of my handspun – I’ve updated the pricing page recently as well.

This Yarn Is Delicious!

I spun this 2 ply out of rambouillet blended with baby suri alpaca on hand cards. It turned out so soft it doesn’t even feel like wool!

Also the colour is lovely – chocolate and tan with a bit of a shine! It has a really rich look and I love it.

I’m working on a pair of gloves for winter…I’ll keep you updated 🙂

Have a great day!

If you might be interested in purchasing my handspun yarn, please visit handspunyarn.wordpress.com

Dreambird Shawl in Handspun Yarn

I’ve been working on a special shawl for a special friend’s birthday and I’m finally done! Yay!!

It is Nadita’s Dreambird pattern, purchased from her shop on Ravelry. She is a really interesting designer with a lot of patterns I think would work really well with handspun yarn 🙂

A reminder of where this came from — the shetland lamb from earlier this year…(the handdyed coloured sections)

The grey is a rambo/bond cross.

The pattern takes some getting used to but is really easy once you get the hang of it. Highly recommended!

Have a great day 🙂

If you might be interested in my handspun yarn for sale, please check out my destash site!

A Very Bright Baby Blankie!

It’s a pattern from Wooly Thouhts, available on Ravelry. Best of all, it’s based on math and really easy to improvise as you go, once you get the hang of it 🙂

I used some of the shetland lamb, dyed it in a multitude of colours. I use the Dharma Trading Co. acid dyes and they are excellent! I blended the dyed locks on hand cards and added a pinch of targhee cross to each rolag – each rolag was split in half so when spun, the plies pretty much lined up and created the blending of one colour to another. In total, 1060 metres of handspun two ply went into this blanket.

Sidetracked, Again (or is that always?)

Ok, I admit it, I just might have a BIT of an issue with sticking to one thing, lol. It’s like some kind of ‘ooooooh shiny, soooooo pretty’ disease. I have so many projects on the go that it’s truly ridiculous.

There is the sweater I am knitting out of handspun light fingering weight yarns, in stripes. The white is cormo/merino hand combed and blended with very fine alpaca, two ply. The coloured yarn is a hand carded silk/wool blend, 2 ply.

The yarn I really did finish (yay, one for me, save the part where there are half a bobbin of singles waiting to be plied into yarn, should I get around to finishing the other ply), created from hand processed, hand combed cormo/fdt fleece from mmfwool….

So far I have two skeins of this, around 700 metres, I’d guess. And I would be guessing, lol, since I have yet to count the strands 🙂

The ‘ooh shiny’ which I just started yesterday. Days off work are fantastic!

Hand dyed silk, cormo/merino fleece and super-soft-camel fluff…it is divine….

And, certainly not last, simply last for today – some super soft gloves I’m working on, created with handspun angora bunny/hand dyed silk blended yarn.

Thankfully winter is a few months away!

The ‘RED’ Has Turned Out Very Well!

I’d love to say ‘good morning’ but it’s afternoon, evening really… so happy day, my friends 🙂

I’ve been keeping busy with work and fabulous fiber. I managed to ply the red yarn and it came out to 380 meters of lovely lace or light weight fingering, I’d say. I like my socks on the thin side, comfy and perfect for normal wear in normal shoes. I’ll most likely put it in my shop but perhaps not for long, depending on how long I can resist it…

I’ve also spent some time working with the beautiful cormo/fdt cross fleece purchased from mmfwool on ebay…

It’s taking two washes to get the lanolin out, or mostly out, as the case may be. Really lovely fleece with a variety of greys in it starting with the lightest pearl gray and going to almost black in places! It combs as nicely as I suspected it would, too. Take a peek at this bit of hand pulled roving…

It’s SO very satisfying, turning a raw fleece into clouds of fiber-y goodness.

Have a fantastic night 🙂

Something Red

Hello!

I barely made it through my day at work, lol – could not wait to get home and get back to the gray fleece again, as I’m quite sure you all understand 🙂

What a beauty it is.

Check out that little washed bit, all separated into locks and dried now…it may well be worth washing this baby slowly because the locks couldn’t have come out more perfect, in my opinion….

I couldn’t help but spin a small sample; it’s virtually irresistible fiber.  I tried spinning from the lock and from hand carded rolags – from the lock wins hands down because the fiber is so fine.  Combing would be perfection, something I have to try and will certainly show once I do 🙂

I’ve been working through some bits of interesting fiber and have spun another skein of laceweight yarn.  This one is “Something Red”, created by blending the lovely white cormo/merino with hand dyed blue/violet silk and a wine red shade of predyed superwash merino.  I blend by sight and handcard my rolags.

Pictures coming soon of the actual plied yarn…I’ve got to skein and wash it first and we all know I’m probably lost in the land of grey fleece tonight 🙂  Have an excellent day!

Opening A Little Internet Yarn Shop!

Good morning!  It’s TRUE.  I’ve finally decided (and worked my way through most of the steps involved) to sell my extra handspun yarn via webstore.

ok, well, I had decided but then discovered it is acceptable to sell handmade items via wordpress and so have, instead, set up a sister site – Handspunyarn.wordpress.com

My little shop is called ‘HandspunYarn’ and will offer a variety of hand spun yarns from laceweight to bulky.  Since I love a good fiber, there will be lots of unique blends and all offerings are one of a kind.

All my my wool is prepared in an environmentally friendly way using safe Dawn dish soap in most cases, sometimes purex naturals, vinegar and occasional hair conditioner in the rinse.  All dyes are food safe unless noted (for example my superwash merino is predyed)

I prepare my fiber by hand, carding/combing and blending with other fibers.  A favorite of mine is silk – sari and bombyx at the moment – and I also blend with camel, alpaca, llama, mohair, angora, yak and even cashmere and cotton, on occasion.

For a great selection of unique, knittable yarns, please visit my shop.

Have an excellent day!

Lisa

You’ve Got To Love A Friday!

Yes, I know it’s not really friday.  For me, though, it is – so yay!  Not that I don’t enjoy my job because I actually do, it’s just a matter of balance.  My crafts are exactly what balance me 🙂

And now I get to spin 🙂  For two whole glorious days 🙂

This is some of the very lovely cotton which I bought from an excellent seller I found on Ravelry, from Kentucky.  I bought two pounds to give it a try – it was raw…I love learning new things from the ground up!

It came like the bit on the left – on the right is some of the cotton pulled off of the seed.

I held the seed and pulled off the fluff…

In the end I had a cloud of very clean fluff with just a bit of vm left.

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Just because I’m me (lol, of course!), I had to try spinning it both ways.  I carded some and rolled it off the card from side to side…

I think both methods work well and don’t have a real preference yet 🙂  I ended up all distracted and started spinning and knitting for a lovely thin knit alpaca cardigan – 2 ply just-a-little-more-than-lace-weight.

I have more yarn to ply…I’m finding the weaving bobbin rack and winder sooooo useful!  Best thing ever.

It’s an absolute star for storing the singles and plying from too!

Oh! And I must show you the baby boy!  He’s growing like a weed and getting cuter every day!

The spinning wheel is calling…Have a fantastic couple of days folks – I know I will 🙂

What’s New? Spring Cleaning….Fleece!

Good morning!

It’s been so long….

Spring is here and I’ve been busy 🙂 Seems spring always makes one want to DO more – and some of us have a different take on spring cleaning! I’ve had several fleeces sitting for a while — some since last summer! I don’t know if I posted about it last fall but I have some absolutely beautiful long staple alpaca…dusty dusty stuff with some burr issues as well. It’s got a staple of about 8 inches as it was a long time between shearings and it is SUPER soft – lovely lovely lovely. Irreplaceable really. Fortunately, lol, I started out with about 14 pounds and there is no end in sight yet.

Unwashed…

Combed out for debris, but not yet washed…

Final product – rovings are clean and pulled from my combs…

There is also the ‘meat’ sheep wool which I was given last year – in black and white – waiting to get a good soak and a wash. The wool comes out nice but the dirt is incredible – sometimes free looks like an excellent price. There is a large bin full of that waiting for me on the porch.

Oh yes, and a basset hound too…

My baby grandson has had his first birthday – still the cutest baby in the world with the BEST smile 🙂

His other grandma has sheep and lambs and has very generously given me three bags of wool (I jokingly asked for ‘three bags full’ lol) – the first is lamb (three fleeces I think), the second is yearling (two to three fleeces) and the third bag is adult (haven’t counted them but I believe it holds two fleeces).

The lamb, unwashed…

The yearling, unwashed (or possibly the adult)…MUCH dirtier than the lamb. I plan to soak this in a cold soak for a few days before washing it…

These fleeces MUST be a mixed breed but are sooooo soft I’m pleasantly surprised! I’ve washed some of the lamb, so far, and it’s coming out lovely. Very short fibers but lovely AND it helped motivate me to learn how to spin short fibers. Happy to say that after two days of utter failure…. I CAN DO IT! 🙂

The lamb…clean…

Here’s some blended short fibers that I’ve successfully spun…YAY!…it’s camel, yak, silk and lambswool blended on carders and then spun for a two ply thick and thin yarn….(it truly is soft as butter)

I’ve sold one of my spinning wheels – the Bordua that I bought last fall – to a really nice Ravelry member who will truly appreciate her. I’ve also begun selling some handspun wool yarn and some spinning fiber (the above mentioned alpaca) through my local kijiji. I definitely spin more than I knit and the wool is piling up!

Some recently spun yarns…

(Left to right…lambswool, spun from the lock very finely for a four ply fingering weight yarn; alpaca, spun from combed fiber, two ply; grammalamb spun two ply; the soft as butter blended camel 2ply; a skein of laceweight, handdyed silk two ply approx 800 metres.)

Oh – Almost forgot! There IS news on the knitting front….

I’ve spun 900 metres of silk/lambswool/alpaca (in approximate thirds, blended on carders and then spun fine for a three ply lace weight) to make a really beautiful pair of lace knitted stockings. So pretty, so impractical. Of course I had to have them 🙂 I’ve only just begun the knitting but it’s coming along well…

As if that isn’t enough, I’ve also been working on some orifice hooks…

I am also working on the spinning wheel at the beginning of this post – she needed a few things and a bit of a facelift. I should have pictures to share very soon 🙂 I believe she is a german parlor wheel but who knows for sure…

And just because…I’ve decided it’s time to make a quilt. A really special quilt I’ve had a picture for for ages…known to me and those that know me as “THE ONE”. It begins something like this….

Yes, I Have Been Slacking

I haven’t blogged in SOME TIME….wow, too long, really.

My beautiful daughter had her beautiful baby!! He’s the most beautiful boy in the world…of course, I am a little bit biased…just a little 🙂 She says I must ‘blog’ him, so here is a picture of cuteness itself….

So, perfect, right? I’m one proud grandma, though that’s something to get used to — I’m so NOT used to being a grandma!

Certainly the excitement of new babies explains my blogging-slacking behaviour, doesn’t it?

I’ve done some spinning, some knitting and some beautiful fleece purchasing – all since I’ve been on the blog last and some of which I’d like to share here since I’m really thrilled with some of the results 🙂 I’ve been on a bit of a yarn/fleece diet this year, and trying to use up the fleeces and fibre I already have rather than buying more. IF you could see the yarn closet you’d definitely agree that the diet is necessary. It’s that or we have to expand the yarn closet, lol, or trade it perhaps with the children – their room would really make a good storage! 😉

I spun some navy and royal blue superwash merino fibre which I had bought last year at the Black Lamb (www.theblacklamb.ca), from Laurie, who is wonderful. I plied it (two plies – I’m a lazy spinner with two bobbins) and knit it up into the Gooseberry Cardigan pattern. I’m more than happy with this sweater – it’s comfy, it’s soft, it’s quite possibly my new favorite all time sweater!

Not the best picture and I can’t believe it BUT, it seems I forgot (?) to take pictures of the spun wool or the spinning itself. I must be losing my grandmother mind!

Bonus! Found a picture of the spun yarn…

I made a little crocheted top – the Avalon Top by Doris Chan. Love how it turned out too….

I also made a little pair of socks, from my handspun superwash merino sock yarn…three ply this time….

I prefer ankle socks so when I made up this design, they seemed the way to go!

Seems like forever and like I’ve got too much to say for one day. Instead of jumbling it all together we’ll have to finish this up tomorrow – when I’ll show the new alpaca fleeces I just washed and the beautiful shetlands I’m processing!!!

Have a great day! 🙂

Update Time!

I finished the handspun sweater I’ve been working on…

It’s the 97-18 Tailored Cardigan by Drops Design – a free pattern which I modified only slightly in my version. I worked without seams and used a three needle bind off for the shoulders. Also, I used small size but medium length throughout. I think in the body I could have gone a little longer still.

I ended up with a little more yarn than I needed, even!

The grandbaby isn’t here yet but should be here any day now. I’m so excited! I’ve made a little blanket – probably the last in the ‘baby collection’ for now.

It uses the ‘curve of pursuit’ idea though not the pattern (since I don’t have it). I like it very much….

I am now working in spinning some beautiful GREENS – again, superwash merino from The Black Lamb in Port Hope.

I was mixing up the colours in a certain-yet-random-way and NOW I’ve run out of some of them. So, I’m working on making a coordinating yarn to go with the 770 metres, or so, of the first yarn. There is a tunic I want to crochet. Badly.

We’ll have to see how it goes….

Back To My Spinning Wheel…

I’m hoping to spin enough 2 ply yarn for a light weight sweater 🙂 It feels good to be working with fibre and using my wheel again, after so many months of focusing on other things!

Since finances SUCK this year for us, I’m using mostly stash yarns and fibre in all my projects. I am out of sweater-lots of wool so if I want to knit anything bigger than socks I will have to spin first!

I have lots of bits of superwash merino in different colours and am going to combine them to spin up some yarn for knitting. It means combining colours and is a surprise every time. I made this a couple days ago – it’s a mixture of three or four blue shades, 2 ply, approximately 260 metres. I’m thinking socks for the baby boy, or a little sweater, perhaps 🙂

Another project I’m working my way through is combing through the leftovers from last years fleeces. I have about a pillowcase full of jacob wool and another partial case full of rambouillet. Some of it is ‘second combings’ since I HATE throwing out anything and there is a lot of saveable wool left over from combing in the first place.

Happy Spinning!

Do You See Socks?

I see socks.

I’m planning to ply the darker tone with the brighter tone and I think they’ll be beautiful! Or at least the yarn will be, lol, since I can’t promise to actually KNIT socks in the near future.

I’m working on the skeins of reclaimed ‘unspun’ I dyed – I don’t know that I’ll finish them all though, probably I’ll store some of it for later too. This one was kettle dyed with yellow/orange/copper wiltons icing dye. I’m so happy it didn’t felt a bit – I can still draft the fibre even though this comes from the part of the sweater I had to frog!

The summer is HERE, all the kids are out of school and my second daughter has graduated high school. I was a very proud mama last night! She is heading to college in the fall and I’m so happy for her 🙂

Another New Craft, Or Two…

I really, really love making stuff. As I’m sure you can tell!

I’ve wanted to try wool dying for a while now. I read (on ravelry) about how icing colours can be used to dye and about how the colours often ‘slip’, giving unexpected depth and variation.

I had juniper green and a hank of my handspun singles yarn to work with. It’s the mystery white wool that I’ve been processing – approximately 180 metres. I also had a bottle of blue liquid food colour that I ended up using with the juniper green.

I dissolved a little of the paste in boiling water.

I poured the remaining boiling water into my dye pot (an excellent pot because the white lining lets me see the amount of colour remaining, clearly), added about 3/4 cup of vinegar, about half the dissolved dye, 9 or so drops of blue, scattered around. Without stirring, I placed the DRY yarn into the bath and simmered it for about 20 minutes on the stove.

Absolutely one of the EASIEST crafts I’ve tried.

Most of the colour took though a little of the red gathered along the edge of the water line in the dye pot. It’s red #3, known to not take, but a little of it did and the finished yarn is beautiful!

In other crafty-news…

I got a woodburning tool!!! I’ve never used one, until last night, but have always wanted to learn. Fun, fun, fun 🙂

For cheap, at the hock shop. It’s a dremel and has interchangeable tips.

My first attempt…(I’m decorating the inkle loom nice and pretty)

Here’s what I’m doing to decorate the shed stick that I made…

Now I’ve got about a milliong things on the go, lol, but I’m having fun.

Enjoy your day!

A Little Shetland Lace Cardigan

Using my handspun!

Remember the shetland fleece I bought earlier this year?

I washed it, combed it – seperated the down coat from the coarse outer coat, and spun the down into a nice, lofty two ply.

I wanted a little sweater – it’s really soft and I’m not overly sensitive to wool anyways. The Sylph Cardigan by Robin Melanson (Interweave Knits) was perfect. Or at least close to perfect! I downsized it, one size. I also continued the lace pattern throughout and knitted on the neckband rather than sewing it on later. I reshaped the sleeves a bit when downsizing. I like them well fitted.

I love how it turned out!

Awesome!

Very cool day in wool-land!

I’ve started to knit with my charcoal shetland…

It’s a ‘sylph’-ish cardigan…or at least that’s what I’m going for…

I had to downsize it, one size, and am thinking about leaving the open pattern throughout rather than changing it to the closed version halfway, as the pattern is written. I think it shows off the shetland nicely AND the mods are necessary if I hope to have enough wool!

Since I’m new at this, I didn’t realize how much weight is lost in the cleaning and processing of the fleece. I have approximately equal amounts of the outer coat (silvery gray) and the inner coat (the chocolate brown/gray that I’m using for this sweater).

My rambouillet fleece arrived today! From Knit-Knackers in Ottawa, Ontario – purchased from ebay but also available directly from the store and sold by the pound, for anyone who is interested. 🙂 It’s so soft and fine, really really fine. 17 to 21 microns. I’m almost afraid of it, lol.

It’s soaking already, in a cold water soak.

And – the 3rd fantastic part of today – I’ve found (or been found by, lol) a local lady who raises sheep and she’s going to drop off three fleeces on the weekend, for FREE. Yay for free things! Very cool and she says next spring I should get back in touch again. LOVE the idea of having local fleeces and saving money even IF they are more work! She’s shearing tomorrow and I’m excited. 🙂

I Have To Have This Camp Shirt!

Now that I’m done surgery (and healing well I’m happy to add!) and my 40th birthday has passed uneventfully…I wanted to do something for me. A little personal pat on the back…

Nice, isn’t it?

I’m using some yarn I spun for the project, superwash merino laceweight in the colour ‘sapphire’, mill ends purchased at The Black Lamb in Port Hope, Ontario. My yarn came out thick and thin (doesn’t it always?) and is roughly lace/light fingering weight. It seems to be working out well in this sweater though I’m pretty sure my guage is off. I’m making the smallest size so there’s a bit of room for that guage issue.

I really don’t tend to worry very much about getting guage and I’m usually pretty lucky.

A little peek…

The colour is off…it’s brighter than the picture shows but it’s so blah here today I’m doubting it’s the day for a better picture…

Check out the newest gadget I’ve reassigned to spinning…

It’s actually a tiered knit dryer with mesh that fits over the bars…I found it at a discount store for about 8 bucks last weekend. I think it’s ideal as a yarn dryer as well, on it’s side like it is!

It’s currently drying a skein of laceweight (for the camp shirt) and some yarn I’ve spun for the African Adventure blanket. That blanket is surely sucking up the yarn, lol. I’ve got good news…it’s not abandoned, just in transition while I respin each colour for it.

Loving These Curves!

Aren’t they fantastic?!

Couldn’t Resist!

969 Yards!

I think I have enough for my sweater. LOL, now if only I can fit it in, time wise! I found a really nice pattern already written which is exactly what I had in mind…and will work very well (I think) for this handspun yarn. It’s really thick and thin in spots so I’m planning to work with that!

A close up…

Now, I’m back to cleaning…it’s SUPER CLEANING DAY here, lol, ’cause I have been too busy quilting and spinning and whatnot to get anything done these last few days. Doesn’t everyone include washing their newly spun wool with their cleaning day?!

I really need some cleaning elves…

Freezing Cold Emergency

So, last night we realized that we couldn’t find my son’s balaclava (or his dad’s) anywhere. He has skiing today and it’s FREEZING cold (-31 right now). The only possible solution at 9 pm? Knitting, of course.

Then I couldn’t find a pattern for a child size OR for a larger needle knit – which is what I needed considering it had to be done for this morning.

So I designed my own – using the word design loosely, lol!

I used two strands of worsted weight handspun (my silverlights) and large dpns, cast on 72 sts, worked 2×2 ribbing for 8 inches or so, seperated by casting off 18 sts and then casting them back on two rows later, worked another 2 inches of 2×2 ribbing and then decreased gradually over the following couple of inches to form the hat crown.

I’m SO IMPRESSED that it fits! LOL, the kiddo was in bed so I was just guessing and you do start to question your guessing skills once the clock strikes 2 am or so…

Stay warm people…it’s COLD out there!

Shadows — All Spun Up!

I’m calling it ‘Shadows Handspun’.

This is the yarn I was spinning for the trees in the Winter Twilight Mitts pattern. I used blue and black superwash merino. The first ply in blue only, the second using both colours in my ‘fake hand paint’ method. I was so unsure as I spun it but I love it now! 🙂

I have 440 metres!

Ah, AND, LOL, I made a drastic mistake when I calculated the yardage on the Violet Rose — I left out a whole hundred wraps!

(see the little ‘116’? I don’t know how but I counted that as ’16’)

So, it is really 645 metres, not 520.

The yarn is soaking at the moment…can’t wait to get it dried and ready to knit!

Perfect…

I’ve had a skein of two ply handspun sitting on the bobbin for a while. I was originally planning to use it to make a cabled sock yarn – it was a technique I hadn’t tried yet (and still haven’t, for that matter!).

However….

Now I’ve found the perfect pattern for it! It’s the Winter Twilight Mitts pattern by Laura Rintala, available as a free download on the Knitting Daily website.

I wish you could see the shine…the yarn has a really nice sheen to it and it’s so soft!

The yarn is superwash merino spun from mill ends bought at my favorite shop, The Black Lamb in Port Hope, Ontario. I spun the skein in my ‘fake hand paint’ way using various colours. There are 520 metres (yay me) on the skein, so more than enough.

I’m planning to spin some black superwash – maybe mix in some dark gray – for the main colour.

I’m excited 🙂 It’ll be good to get back to the wheel too! I polished her up this morning in anticipation of our upcoming time together…she’s so much prettier when she’s not all dusty.