What Could Be More Fun Than A Fresh New Fleece?!

I’m a little behind, here, and haven’t shown what I’ve been up to lately!  My apologies, my friends!  Work and family and (lets face it!) spinning have been getting in the way…

This is a beautiful fleece I purchased from mmfwool. It’s a cormo/merino cross and just awesome to work with – lovey crimp and length and so very, very soft.

Here’s how it looks cleaned up…(it only took one wash, two rinses);

And how it came out after combing…

I’ve also been blending – I treated myself to some excellent bits of fiber recently…

I’ve made some really soft yarns in all shades of natural…

I’ve just received another beautiful fleece, a grey cormo cross which is actually even MORE beautiful and super fine.

I’m washing this more carefully than I’ve ever washed a fleece — by the handfull almost, in a wire basket in a LOT of water, simmering on the stove for 20 minutes then two rinses in super hot tap water with some boiling water mixed in. Absolutely NO agitation.

The first batch came out excellently!

I’m surrounded in fleecy goodness! If you are interested, please visit my little handspun yarn shop.  Have an excellent day!

The Beautiful Birthday Wool And Other Fun Stuff

Good Morning!

Yes, again, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted 🙂 It feels like spring – a beautiful beautiful day in Ontario. Time to sort, clean and catch up…

A couple of weeks ago I had another birthday and wanted to treat myself to something special. I decided to make some pretty yarn inspired by amethyst…a little bit of sparkle (silk from india), a little bit of shine and bold bright colour (handdyed longwool) and a fair share of beautiful, bouncy softness (gorgeous handdyed cormo/merino cross recently purchased from mmfwool on ebay – I *highly* recommend it).

In the dye pot – the wools and some wilton’s violet icing colour….

I blended the fibres with hand cards and, voila!

The plan is to knit ‘Sabbatical’ by Connie Chang Chinchio…it should be awesome!

The wool from mmfwool is absolutely wonderful to work with…nice crimp, beautiful feel, lovely length….

The kids have been enjoying march break!

I’ve been working on some other wools as well…

black/brown suffolk mix – this is a three ply worsted/dk weight which will eventually become a sweater…

Finished pictures coming soon for this and some lovely wool/silk mix yarn which I’m just in the middle of finishing up! Have a fantastic 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….

Felting Slippers For Christmas

I was totally inspired by a really popular pattern on ravelry’s pattern list. Built like a shoe, looking like a slipper. So. I looked very carefully at all of my daughters ballet flat type shoes. I tried to wing it. It came out not-so-good, lol. I used version one to see what needed to change in version two and decided the top heavy peanut of the sole probably had to change to a proper foot shaped sole. I also elongated the heel and made it meet in a ‘v’ with the body of the slipper, raised up the back of the heel from what I originally thought it should be and added a couple more sts into the toe.

 

Voila!

Two washes in the front loader, with tennis balls, on heavy duty cycle and they came out looking like the shape of a foot. No stretching or fighting – just the perfect shape. I was thrilled 🙂 Now I have to make everyone a pair for Christmas!

The needle felting was an extra touch, to pretty them up a little more than they are 🙂

Getting There…

This is the blanket, so far. I am spinning more wool now…I think I want it bed sized!

My healing is going ok (I think?), not much pain, am almost done taking my antibiotics (one more today). I’m SUPPOSED to take off the bandage today but I think I’m going to call the surgeon because I’m totally not sure how to do it without pulling off the scab underneath. I’m pretty much terrified to touch it. I would love to leave it but I guess it can’t heal that way!

I’ve been taking it easy, pretty much. I think I’m over the initial shock of it all…no promises…shock seems to reappear whenever it wants.

I totally agree, I need a shopping trip SOMEWHERE but, sadly, with finances as they are it’s probably good I have these wool bins. I will, however, be treating myself to the Spring IK sometime today! In my dream world, I’d be heading for the Spinrite factory sale which is on this week in Listowel. It’s a bit of a drive but it would be so fun to go – fun, I should say, if I could go and spend guilt free.

Again, thanks for the support Joansie, Brenda, Jo and Samm. It was awesome you took the time to comment and it means a lot to me 🙂

Loving These Curves!

Aren’t they fantastic?!

Staying Inside Where It’s Pretty!

As you can see, it’s not really pretty outside, here, today!! Raining and almost 10 celcius, everything is melting like mad. Guess that groundhog needs a new job…

So, I’m staying inside, working on a really awesome, ambitious project. It’s a blanket called ‘An African Adventure’ by Horst Schulz. It’s a modular knit and a lot of knitting. And it’s for ME. Really. I’m not even going to change my mind and give it to one of the children.

I’ve spun 16 different colours of superwash merino wool. The result is dk/worsted, thick/thin 2 play yarn…a little bit thicker than the original (which was dk) but I’m sure it’ll do nicely.

From top left; Amethyst, Henna, Earth, Pink Frost, Fuchsia, Deep Red

Sky, Lightest Lilac, Purple Mist, (skipping the colours already seen), Coral, Light Coral, Deepest Green

Deep Sky, (skipping colours already seen), Olive Green, Grass, Light Olive

I can’t wait to start this!

The Sweater Is Finished :)

I’ve finished my ‘Ellie’ sweater using my Pink Frost Handspun superwash merino yarn and I LOVE it!

It’s amazingly soft and comfy and machine washable, which can only add to the number of times that I wear it. 🙂 I think I should have lengthened the pattern a little bit but other than that, a great pattern.

My new obsession is a blanket – made entirely with handspun (yet to be spun). Crazy, maybe!

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…

Spinning Again!

Now that I’m finished the lovely knee socks, I felt like working on my spinning for a couple of days…it’s a nice break and I’ve been dying to get to it since I got all that beautiful (superwash merino) fibre at The Black Lamb for Christmas!

I’m mixing these two colours (shell pink and a pink blend) by plying them together. I’m purposefully making the shell ply a little thinner than the blend – a little experiment.

My finished product – the first skein – is approximately fingering to dk (by looks) and is about 14 wpi – probably 12 wpi in the thicker sections. I’m going to spin it all in a row to help ensure that the yarn is pretty much well matched. I know, I know….yes, I SHOULD just spin all the singles, wind them onto toilet paper rolls and then mix them to make the weights similar later.

Pfffffft…I don’t swatch either, ever. Don’t tell the knitting police!

I have a project in mind as I spin but it’s definitely a little into the future!! I’m thinking of designing an open knit sweater – done on larger than suitable needles – that is bottom up, as one piece as possible, with a simple seam finish and a v or some such neckline. It’ll be perfect for over a camisole. With this in mind, I chose the pinks because they are as delicate as the intended project.

I’m pretty excited about all of it 🙂

Fabulous Cables!

So, it SNOWED here last night — it even stuck to the ground!!

I’ve been working on a beautiful cabled scarf using some olive green superwash merino which I spun on my baby (the Kromski wheel) earlier this year. I was planning to use if for the ‘bella’ pattern but I think it’s a little thicker than I’d like. I seem to spin a heavier-than-I’d-like worsted. Oh well 🙂 The yarn is working out nicely on 5 mm needles for the Beaumonde Scarf by Smariek knits. What an excellent pattern maker she is! I love this scarf and most of her other patterns as well 🙂

Definitely have a look – I think you’ll love her patterns too…

Winter’s On It’s Way…

The geese are flying, the leaves are beginning to turn and the nights are getting COLD!

Winter seems to be around the corner, here in Ontario. I’ve decided to concentrate on gifts and warm woolies now – with carpets and such as a bit of relief at the end of the day 🙂

I’ve completed a set for my son. It’s a matching scarf/hat set made with my Silverlights Handspun superwash merino (rovings purchased at The Black Lamb in Port Hope), using the ‘Rainy Day Scarf’ pattern for the scarf and a variation of that stitch in my hat pattern.

What do you think?

Now I’m working on a Drop Stitch Scarf for my daughter, using the leftovers from a sweater project last year – the Amoroso Malabrigo worsted. I have about a ball and a half left over so I’m really keeping my fingers crossed. In my perfect world I’d have enough left to make the hat as well.

I’m quite nervous waiting for an appointment I have coming up with a surgeon. I’ve got some sort of cyst (yes-think cyst) problem going on and have already had an ultrasound. In about a week and a half I’ll have a better idea what the actual problem is.

Keeping myself busy is the best I can do.

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.

Trying Something New…

I want to make a cabled sock yarn 🙂 It’s something I haven’t tried yet! I’d really like it if I get enough yardage to make something more than socks, like a little shrug or something. That’s why I’m spinning on full bobbins EVEN THOUGH it means winding the first plied ply into a centre pull ball.

I need to figure out what the colours in the next two plies will be. I’m not sure if I should lighten it up by leaning on the pinks/lavendars or if I should go darker with some navy/black/red. I could always even it out with one dark ply and one light. I also have shades of grey which might go very nicely with the pinks.

Choosing colours is the hardest part!

One really cool bit of news! I may be getting a weaving loom 🙂 Long story but as I understand it the lady who has it got it from Seneca College when they discontinued their weaving program and it’s on the condition that it MUST be passed on to someone who will use it. I’ll update on this later when I know whats what…hopefully when I have the lovely thing 🙂 I’m already excited and I don’t know for sure I’ll be getting it, lol.

Have a great day!

3 Months Spinning…

I’ve been spinning for exactly three months today. On the wheel, that is…I spent about a month or so with a spindle, learning the basics of twist – getting addicted to spinning and whatnot!

I’m thinking I’d like to create a ‘spinning page’ where I can keep track, with pictures – in one place – of all of the yarns I’ve spun. It’ll help me see my progress as well as helping me remember what I”ve done!

I was an avid hand quilter for a long time when my kids were little. I made many, many quilts – so many I’ve lost track. My biggest mistake was not keeping a record of everything I did, with pictures. Now most of the quilts are gone and my memory, as it turns out, SUCKS LOL.

Here’s a picture of my Rose Garden Handspun, plied, on the bobbin — It turned out really lovely…or at least I love it!

I made this yarn randomly – didn’t measure sections of roving for uniformity or place them in an even, organized pattern – but was thinking, before I made it, of the beautiful hand painted rovings out there. Thinking WHY CANT I DO THE SAME WITH COLOURED ROVINGS? So this was my attempt to mimic the effect of handpainted rovings with a much more affordable substitute! Guessing that this will weigh in at about 4 oz…the savings is significant — I paid about $1.25 for the rovings I used as opposed to the rates of $14+ that I’ve seen (and paid in the past) for a similar amount of roving. Now that is a BIG difference!

The picture is a little dark, I know…here’s one taken this morning outside…on the board…

I ended up with about 400 yards of light to heavy fingering weight yarn…depending on the section…I always have thick/thin sections 🙂

Today it’ll have a little bath and then be dried and weighed later on…

The Candy Stripe Socks!

I made them as sockettes rather than full leg socks but the pattern is very stretchy and the leg length is just a matter of preference. I love how the twisted cables nest together and how the single purl almost looks lacy. I think if I had made them longer and IF (not sure this would be necessary) shaping was required it would be easy enough to add in a second purl stitch in each space between the cables, probably every other space, work a certain number of rows and then every other again, to gradually add girth.

I’m so happy to have finished these 🙂 It’s satisfying to knit the one or two day projects, for me — and I’m happy because they are for my daughter’s 17th birthday which is about a week away.

I had way more yarn than I needed…I think I used just a little more than half of the ball. I realize I should have weighed it before I began — then I’d KNOW what I used! Had nothing here to weigh it with though…I really must get my own scale for yarn – borrowing is less than convenient.

It looks like we’re going to have a sunny weekend 🙂 We’re going to the ROM with the kids on Sunday…I can’t wait! Of all the things around here, somehow I’ve never been to the ROM and it’ll be so fun to discover it with the kids. My husband is even excited about it 🙂

I Can’t Believe It!

I have MISPLACED (I refuse to use the word LOST) so many of my magazines and books and I’ve got no idea how or where or anything!

It all became apparent yesterday when I was looking for a magazine (IK I think?) that had a beautiful sock ‘recipe’ for all sizes, guages, etc…for toe up socks…that I often use when trying to design a new sock pattern…

Thank goodness that I’ve written it out in the past when I wrote the other sock patterns…I didn’t write out the guage charts (sure wish I had!) but at least I could recover the basics of the short row heel that I like to use.

Then my daughter asked for a book, for school, that I haven’t seen in quite a while and had almost forgotten about…leading me to consider all the other books that are missing. If there is any hope of finding them they may be in the basement in one of the unpacked boxes. LOL, at this point I’m wondering how we decided to put thoses boxes down there in the first place or if we were just tired the night we were moving in! Looking through all of them is NOT something I’m looking forward to but I really like knowing where my things are!

I managed to figure out my sock pattern anyways…it’s the Candy Stripe Socks pattern listed in the pages. They use, of course, the Candy Stripe Yarn that I spun from the superwash merino from the black lamb. I’m almost done the first sock…

I thought the twists in this pattern were reminiscent of the twists of candy cane sticks 🙂

I’ve also taken a picture of the spinning I’m working on…the first ply for the four ply….

Enjoy your day 🙂

Making Do :)

So…

I’m trying to spin a three ply with only three bobbins and wanted to come up with a way to make it work without having to wind any of the singles into a ball before plying. Patience isn’t my strong suit, lol, so I didn’t want to wait for a chance to buy a fourth bobbin.

Ta Da….

I spun it on the first three hooks and built a little separator out of a scrap of cardboard — and duckie stickers of course! 🙂

I’ve done half a bobbin of the dark orange on it’s own bobbin (I was still thinking about the problem, lol)

So far, so good! I’m pretty happy with this idea…I’ll let you know how the plying goes 🙂

The New Rovings!

Aren’t they beautiful? 🙂

I ended up with over 7 pounds of beautiful fluff this time 🙂 I went with a lot of smaller bits because I liked the bright, spring-like colours. Loved the oranges, pinks, yellows especially! I think I want to make a three ply sock yarn out of some of those…

Yosemite in the silk is going so-so. I think I misjudged the size and I’m seriously considering pulling it back out and casting on again in another size. The pattern itself is beautiful and the silk looks really nice.

I’m starting the sweater for my son in the handspun…cast on last night after much figuring of the math! So far (and I’m only done the waistband section) it looks great 🙂

Beautiful Sun!

The sun is shining and the rain is gone…for now 🙂 I love a sunny day…it revives me.

I’m going to do a ton of laundry, I love hanging it out to dry. It began because I don’t have my dryer yet – still in ‘storage’ – I’m beginning to wonder if I’ll ever see it again! – but I really like it. I know I’m not wasting power and I like the way the laundry feels and smells 🙂 Even the jeans and towels!

Baked some beautiful muffins yesterday…raspberry lemon…

They are fantastic…the recipe was originally for a cranberry muffin but I had frozen raspberries and I thought the lemon and raspberry would go well together, which they DID! The icing is just a glaze of icing sugar and lemon juice.

I’m almost done spinning the yarn for my son…I am so pleased too! I am sure I’ll get at least another 350 metres out of this last bit, maybe even 400 🙂 That should give me enough to make him a nice cabled sweater…

I’m hoping to finish spinning it while the kids are at school today. I’d like to clean up our deck and get outside for a while. It’s definitely a spin-friendly deck – covered concrete front porch that spans the front of the house, actually. An excellent place to shelter the baby plants now that I’ve moved them outside. I forgot about them last night!!! Thank goodness there wasn’t frost here like they said might happen.

My husband is broken…well, slightly damaged – we’re going with that – he tore his main muscle in his right arm (is a construction foreman in the concrete business) and now can hardly move his arm at all. He’s gotten a sling to wear and spent yesterday sleeping because he got so little rest the night before. They say he needs to keep from using the arm for about a week…he’s going to have to actually supervise instead of jumping in and doing the work for a while.

The dogs spent yesterday comforting him 🙂 They like to keep him company…

Have an excellent day!

Silver Lights…

I’m up to 699 metres of yarn in my recent spinning project!! Yay and thank goodness, lol.

I think I’m going to call it ‘silver lights’. I have a really hard time naming yarn but it’s the ‘done’ thing. As I spun it, (and am still spinning it), the grey comes through as a shiny silver peeking through the black…or that’s what I kept thinking, hence the name…

I don’t know if you can see in the picture but the second ‘set’ (on the winder) is a lighter colour…more of the silver is coming through. LOL…it’s not as easy as it looks to make a consistant yarn. I’m thinking I’m going to need to incorporate some subtle striping to make the colours look intentional!

I need about another 300 metres — really hoping the rovings go that far. From now on, I’m going to buy the rovings in two pound lots so in future I don’t have to fret over having enough for a project 🙂

Spinning To Order…

Yes, I’m working on the yarn for my son…the black and grey superwash.

A light worsted/dk weight is my goal though I’m never sure what I’m getting exactly with the hand spinning. I don’t know if you get to the point where you know for sure that the singles are ‘perfect’ in size or if it’s always a bit of a guessing game. I kind of go for a sock weight single so the two will end up as a worsted when plied. And then there’s the thick/thin factor. I don’t know if other spinners get past this but there are definitely ALWAYS thick/thin places in my singles. Not a lot of them, but they’re there.

I’m also working on a knitted top for myself. Yosemite worked in Shire Silk that I’ve been saving since I bought it last year. It has GOT to be the most expensive yarn I’ve ever ordered. Not because the yarn wasn’t on sale but because of the method of shipping to Canada from Webs. I’ve learned different sellers ship different ways and there are some that I will buy from now and some I will not. I do my best to stay away from the USPS! Unless I love having a whole lot of ‘surprise’ charges to pay COD at the post office on pick up, LOL, it seems the way to go. So this is the one and only thing I will ever/have ever bought at Webs, did I mention EVER? On the other hand, I had previously bough some beautiful yarn, including some Shire Silk, at fabulousyarn.com and they shipped the civilised way and there were NO surprises at the post office on that order. With the discounts, the yarn prices were quite similar anyways. Live and learn!

My goal this year is to knit the stash. I will excuse myself this rule when it comes to buying rovings, of course! 🙂 Must. Feed. The. Spinning. Habit. Other than handspun though, I hope to use the yarn I’ve been hoarding — there is a LOT of it too, LOL.

Since I’m a SAHM, I like to find ways to contribute – read ‘save money’ – so I’m planting a patio garden this year. I have beans, three kinds of peas (two with edible pods, one without), three different kinds of tomato plants (heirloom, cherry and normal), red, green and heirloom peppers, green onions. Right now the babies are growing in little pots on all my window sills and eventually they will be repotted for the decks. We have gardens around the house as well but I’m not too interested in feeding the local bunny population. Bunnies are adorable and all but this is OUR food! 🙂 I’m planting at least six of each plant and I really hope I get enough food to help out and make a difference.

I’ve also been baking our bread every day and it makes a difference I’m sure. Bread here now is about three dollars a loaf for the CRAP. Very expensive! I make two loaves at a time, sometimes every day, sometimes every other. It only takes me about half an hour to make, save rising time. The kids love it and when I bake, they eat far better, way more. A store bought loaf of CRAP lasts us about three days…two home made loaves last us a day or a a day and a half. I like it when they enjoy the food!!! Makes me feel like a million when I know I’m contributing to that.

I’ve started getting really creative with our leftovers and with recipes in general. I’m getting better at going by the rough outline of a recipe and using all the things we like instead of the things they call for that I don’t have! The kids are even enjoying the results!

Grow Babies, Grow

My baby plants are growing really well! 🙂 I can’t wait for summer….

I’ve finished Ice Queen and I LOVE it! I used an assortment of beads — didn’t have enough of any one colour and I reclaimed them from kids bracelets so I couldn’t change plans and buy more of the same.

Check it out!

I used 1.23 oz for this and have .49 oz left for another day!

Though I CAN wait for winter…had enough already!…I’m looking forward to wearing this when the weather turns cold again 🙂 I think the colours suit the pattern and the yarn worked out so well I have a yearning to spin some more lace…wouldn’t it be beautiful in a sweater!

Hexacomb…

So far!

I love it… 🙂 The handspun is looking pretty good in this pattern!

I’m just about ready to seperate for the armholes and the second ball of yarn. A really quick knit and the pattern is simple enough I can take it out (like to karate last night) without carrying the pattern…