Spin and Knit: 2014

Friday, October 3, 2014

Baby Boys Jersey

I unfortunately forgot to take a photo of the finished product and never got a photo of it on the baby boy I made it for but believe e it was gorgeous!

This was the pattern I used;

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/jiminy-2

Thursday, March 6, 2014

My first Arty Yarn

I had a go at creating some art yarn not long ago but I haven't got round to posting about it. So here it is.

Art Yarn is yarn that is different. Not the smooth even en neatly plied stuff you usually spin. It is yarn that is great to use to add some extra dimension to your finished project. It makes nice edges around hats, scarves or cuffs etc. But if you feel so inclined you could also opt to make the whole project with this sort of yarn.

The sky is the limit really you can make anything into yarn, add any bits and pieces to make it interesting or you can use to bobbins of singles that you ply together in a more creative way to create bobbles, loops or funky effects.

This was my first experiment.

I used the drum carder to blend my 'ingredients'.

A layer of black wool

Sprinkle of cut offs and scraps of yarn, string, ribbon or fabric.

Then a layer of fawn wool

Creating a sandwich which is carded, twice.

That created these batts

That were then spun into this single

Then I plied it with a light blue Rayon sparkly thread

to create this very different funky yarn.

And now I need to find a way of using it in a project.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

felted bag

Another use-up-your-stash project.

I knitted the bag which turned out about double the size of that in the photo, then threw it in the washing machine, which felted it for me.

No pattern, just some yarn leftovers and an idea to make a little bag to hang

of my spinning wheel to hold some accessories for spinning.

Very cute and useful little bag.

Just nice how these things turn out just as you wanted it to sometimes.

Some little sheep were a gift from a friend, they seem to like the bag.

Little gnomes

I always take my crafts with me on holidays. Sometimes my spinning wheel, always some knitting or other project.

I find that it often attracts attention and comments and is a great conversation point.

This last time at the campsite I brought my spindle as I am learning to use that more confidently and my knitting. I was planning on using up little scraps of wool for whimsical things. I don't like wasting oddments of yarn. So I had some patterns for small projects with me too.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/korknisse

A small girl at the campsite came every day to see me and watch me spin or knit and came to check on the growing herd of little gnomes I was making out of corks.

She was so fascinated with the knitting and the yarn.....delightful!

I let her take two gnomes home, they are going to live in her dolls house.

A bright and happy blanket

What can I say?

This is one of those projects that just grew without much planning.

I had no idea at the start of the process what I would end up with.

First I just felt like dyeing some wool, for the fun of it.

Then the result of that was so bright and sweet that it stunned me.

No idea what to use it for......

That fiber (which is of our sheep Barney) was spun, because I needed some fiber to spin for a spinning demonstration during an agricultural show in town.

It sure attracted a lot of comments and caught the eye of the public. I mean with those colours it is hard not to notice it.

Plied up this was the final resulting colourway. I had 200g of it.

Then I found a pattern idea I wanted to try out. A blanket with mitred squares. Something I had never done before.

Yet the resulting blanket was not large enough to be useful.

So I had to try and dye more fiber in a matching hue, which proved difficult to achieve.

After the dye bath it was very patchy in colour.

But I used my drum carder to get some practice at carding and the dyed sliver turned into 200g of gorgeous and more even coloured batts;

The colour was perfect. And a border was knitted to complete the blanket which made it about a meter square. Perfect for a baby blanket or a lap blanket or throw.

Stunning!

If I may say so myself.

Beatrice Shawl

Sometime I have a result in dyeing that I am not quite that happy with.

Take this yarn; It is a beautiful soft 125g of merino, gorgeously spun originally white.

Than I dyed it randomly with yellow red and blue dye powder and although I wasn't totally disappointed it turned out very different from what I had hoped for.

What to use it for??????????

So it lay in waiting for more then a year, perhaps even two until this pattern caught my eye....

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/beatrice-shawl