Festive fun and a look back

Well needless to say I didn't manage all my knitting in time, but Mum seems happy with the progress on her scarf/shawl thing and I now have the measurements from my little sister for her gloves.  Over Christmas itself though I gave up and just indulged in some me-crafting-time.  It was so nice to just make for the sake of filling up hours with chilled out productiveness, rather than panicking about a deadline (though I did spend a good four hours of the drive up to the Lake District working on Mum's scarf in the car... DH was driving I hasten to add!).

Now seems as good a time as any to have a quick look back over the last year from a crafting point of view.  I think I would have said that I was a reasonable knitter at the beginning but this year has definitely seen me improve a range of skills.  Having completed an Estonian lace shawl for Mum in Kidsilk Haze early on I learnt not only a range of increases/decreases etc but that the yarn used can make a huge difference to the finished object!  That project goes down as a labour of love that I was glad to finish but fundamentally utterly disappointed in.  The pattern was gorgeous (so much so that I instantly cast it on again) but it just didn't match the yarn.  Ho hum we live and learn!  What my move to lace has taught me though is the careful matching of decreases to the direction I want the fabric to flow in, which has influenced how I create "simpler" garments in turn.  All in all good lessons.

This year's big lessons though have come in my move to becoming a spinner as well as a knitter.  Whoever it was told me when I started that it would put me off ever buying commercial yarn again wasn't far wrong.  The freedom to create exactly the yarn you want for a given project is both inspiring, humbling when trying to achieve it, and incredibly liberating when creating and using the yarn.  Having started on and learnt the basics with a couple of top whorl drop spindles I'm finishing the year a huge fan of both my supported and Turkish spindles.  I'm far quicker spinning singles on the former, whilst the latter can't be beaten for portability (important when having such a peripatetic couple of months!).  I think what they both have over the drop spindles though is a lack of bendable/breakable parts, again important when travelling so much.

So in what is probably my final post for 2011 here is a picture of the project which I'm possibly most proud of to date.  It is a very simple pair of socks made with my own handspun.  That though overlooks the range of new techniques I've had to learn to create them - spinning supported, from the fold, long draw, plying on a supported spindle, knitting two socks at a time.  It might not sound much, and they don't look like anything particularly amazing, but you know what, I know the work that's gone into them and I'm going to have damn warm feet for the New Year :)

I hope the New Year finds you well, your needles busy, spindles full and wheels ever turning. 
Best wishes,
Kay x

I can haz long draw from the fold

Well my birthday money finally burnt a hole in my pocket and I bought a new supported spindle, completely with the intention of spinning up the second ply of the silk I'm working on... so much for good intentions!  I also treated myself to these scrummy mix-and-match batts from Hilltopclouds with the idea of spinning up the smooshiest sock yarn I could manage.

Well as all good spinners know smooshy is probably going to need a woolen spinning style (yes I know worsted would probably be more hard wearing for socks but wearing them through is just a good excuse to make more surely?), and anyway I'd been getting better at spinning the silk longdraw so it seemed only logical to get cracking with the socks :)  My first time spinning batts that aren't designed to create art-yarn and my first time playing with spinning from the fold.  All in all I'm pretty happy.  It's not horribly inconsistent, and anyway it'll be a 3ply so a lot of that will get evened out.  Oh and a pretty shot of my newest toy too :)

Time management

As you've probably guessed from my last couple of posts, and the general lack of consistent posting, I've utterly over committed myself on the knitting side of things this Christmas.  As if a baby jacket, 6foot shawl and a huge scarf weren't enough, I'm also spinning several art-yarn style skeins for my SIL (she's much much better with colour and texture than I am).  Oh and I'm just about to move house as well having started a new job last month!

So in the middle of this lot I was brought up short by a very pithy comment by a good friend of mine.  It was along the lines of "time management is a misnomer, you can't manage time, it will continue plodding along no matter what you do or don't do, so concentrate instead on making the most of it".  Whilst he was posting from a leadership and work management perspective, it struck me actually just how deep that sentiment is.  How often have are we told to manage our time better, as though we are some separate entity independent of the rest of the world. 

I think this is one of the driving forces behind me learning to spin this year.  It lets me fill in those little gaps in my day where I would otherwise be wasting time.  A ten minute tube ride is now a productive time for me rather than something to be endured.  Speaking of five minute time fillers though, I admit it, I've given in to the hexi-monster and am now part way into creating my first Beekeeper's Quilt (or maybe just some seat cushions for our dining room table!).  This one is going to be made with all the scraps I get from making socks etc but I'm also about to start a second using up the mini-skeins I get from sampling different types of wool.  Whilst the former will be predominantly blues, purples and greys, the spinning quilt will be almost totally cream.  I'm hoping the latter will help me show off the different textures and feels of each of the yarns and breeds.  Each of the hexipuffs only takes about 20 mins to make and take up next to no space in my handbag so are perfect commuting mini-projects :)

So a quick gratuitous shot of the first 10...

The bittersweet feeling of finishing a piece of spinning

I don't know if other spinners find this but projects seem to have a definite cycle to them.  First off you have the excitement of a new project, all those plans and possibilities.  Then you get down to the spinning proper.... and suddenly realise just how long the singles are going to take!  Fairly quickly though you settle into that, just enjoying the slow and steady progress.  Then comes the excitement of finishing the singles and knowing you just have the plying to go, followed rapidly by the realisation (again) that winding the plying ball and plying isn't half as quick as your head thinks it should be.  Then you get to the end of the plying.  That is the oddest one for me.  I've been planning for ages what I'll make with this yarn but somehow finishing the spinning is still bittersweet.  I'm one step closer to that FO but have closed one part of the project.  A lesson in impermanence if ever there was one!

Anyway the spinning that provoked this thought :)  Firstly a shot of the almost finished singles:

Then the, now well travelled, cops ready for winding into a plying ball:

The plying ball itself:

Plying:

And the final very full spindle:

Washed and finished yarn shots to follow :)

Bizarre exchange of the week

On the way to Paddington this evening I was, not unusually, spinning on the tube. Now this normally gets its fair share of odd looks and funny comments, but tonight I was utterly flummoxed by a lovely older lady.  She was travelling with her daughter who had asked me what I was doing.  When I responded with "spinning, or more technically plying" (on my turkish), her mum promptly told me I was doing no such thing!  Daughter then helpfully explained that mum was an ex-textiles teacher and prolific spinner, not to mention an exhibitor this year at Fibre Fest!  Not really sure what the correct response to that is...

I must stop saying yes

I don't know if it is me or every handknitter but I'm useless at saying no to someone asking me to knit for them if they offer to pay. Now I'm not talking jumpers here! Scarves and gloves though and I'm here to spread the word that wool is "the" thing to be seen in. Whilst spreading the love is no bad thing, I'm not sure I have enough hours in the day!

Top bunk spinning

A new job in the big smoke has necessitated a somewhat drastic change in my living arrangements...in other words temporarily living in a YHA during the week.  Whilst this does come with the to be expected shenanigans of people switching lights on at stupid times, people snoring, multiple alarm clocks going off etc, it turns out to have an amazing advantage too...spinning off the top bunk means you get a really long make :)  Oh and the people you meet are pretty darned cool too

The Christmas rush

All crafters that I know will admit that whilst they love their craft (or crafts) birthdays and Christmas present a particular set of challenges.  Whilst we know how much a handknit etc can be loved by its recipient (or at least they won't be getting a second if they don't :) ) that sinking feeling around early November as you realise just how much work you've let yourself in for creates just a small amount of stress.

So in no particular order this year my challenge includes, but is unlikely to be limited to:

• Snug Hooded Wrap for my Mum - have the yarn, of which one of the 15 skeins has been balled.
• Spinning the remaining batts for my SIL
• Knitting (and possibly spinning) a pair of long gloves for my sister to match a coat she has with 3/4 length sleeves
• A matinee coat for a baby just born to friends of ours
• Finishing In Dreams for my friend's girlfriend.

On the list of things I'd like to finish (or indeed start) for myself are:

• Riding coat from the frogged/reskeined/washed/balled remains of the daisy stitch coat
• finish spinning Midnight's Socks and actually get on with the knitting

Someone wish me luck will you :)

Changing of the seasons and a wedding

For those of us living in the UK the weather doesn't seem to quite be able to make its mind up what season it wants to be.  We've had well above average temperatures, but with the odd storm that makes you think it really is Autumn.  For me personally, I've been loving the beautiful colours in the trees but lamenting the warmth preventing me snuggling up in my hand knits.

It seems though, that we might actually be in for a bit of autumnal weather... just as I head up country for a wedding being held partially in a marquee (after the main hall of the hotel suffered a major fire).  Now this poses a bit of a problem on the clothes front.  I've got a fairly heavy weight gorgeous red dress suit, but with the jacket it feels overly work-like, whilst without it is fairly low cut with no sleeves.  Whilst I have worn it with a wrap before, it really is a dress that you have to have something with all the time... in other words rather high maintenance.  My other alternative is a lovely purple number from Monsoon.  Again a smart dress, and as with the red, the plan is to combine it with a set of killer cream heels (despite the DH's objections that this makes me significantly taller than him!).  With either dress though I need a wrap, and whilst I want it to be very pale, I struggle to find creams that suit me.  For any other event I would go for white or possibly a silver, but for a wedding that feels a little tacky if you're not the bride.

In other words, I've got an emergency knit on the needles, Oslo Walk in Bluefaced.com's Silver Sparkle Sock... it remains to be seen if the colour suits me so wish me luck!

Knitting on straight metal needles!!!

I think URK! could round up how I feel about these needles.  I've just cast on a baby matinee coat for a very good friend of my DH who has had a little girl, but then found out that of all the nice circular/interchangable/wooden needles I own, the pattern requires the one size I don't have.  This will be remedied in short order but until then I am stuck using my revolting metal straights!  I'd forgotten how much straight needles get in the way, how you have to keep the ends from waggling around, and how damn slippery metal is.  Can you tell that I'm not enjoying this?

Drat... and other words for when you run out of yarn

So I knew my first attempt at spinning enough yarn for my gloves was likely to be out by a bit.  The initial 70g or 141m was enough for a glove and two thirds, with the first glove weighing 40g give or take a gram.  So you would think that spinning an extra 12g should have given me more than enough to finish... no, sadly not.  Irritatingly I've had to spin a finger's worth to finish them off!  Agh didn't even come close.

On the flip side, the thought of spinning three sets of singles, then winding a plying ball etc was not one I wanted to contemplate for such a short amount of yarn, so I finally figured out how to n-ply on a turkish spindle.  Now I'm not sure I'd recommend testing such bright ideas on a tiny turkish but somehow I managed it, and the resulting mini-skein matches the rest of the true 3ply more than well enough for a finger's worth of knitting.

Autumn's Gift to Autumn's Gloves

While I was updating Ravelry with my progress I thought I'd add a few photos here too.  From these braids:

To a spindle full of singles:

Annoyingly I forgot to photograph the plying stage but did get one of the skein produced:

And the gloves in progress:

Apologies for the hiatus

Sorry for the lack of posts over the last month.  Whilst I had anticipated most of the challenges two weeks in deepest darkest Scotland, followed by a week in deepest darkest Devon would present, almost a month without usable internet access wasn't one of them.  The wifi I had been expecting at both turned out to be woefully slow in the case of the former, and utterly absent in the case of the latter.  That said, the spinning and knitting has been continuing apace!

I finished up the Feet of Beans socks, now named my Tigger Socks by my DH on the basis of how bouncy they are, and have been wearing them as often as I can get them washed.  It has been a while since it has a) been cold enough to warrant thickish wool socks and b) since I've had a set of hand knitted ones I wanted to wear, but these are fabulous even if I do say so myself.  I had forgotten the very simple joy of socks you've knitted yourself out of a yarn you love.  I'm not sure if it is the fit (perfect), the warmth (hot when it's cold and cool when it's warm) or the general smile factor of non-black socks but these have had me smiling for days :)

On the spinning front I've gradually been working my way through the Midnight's Socks yarn, with about half of the singles spun.  Although the yarn is nice it isn't inspiring me as much as I'd thought it might, although that may also be the slightly daunting thought of my first patterned sock project.

On a more positive front, I've spun up the first batch of Autumn's Gift, a brown corriedale dyed by Patricia of Yummy Yarns.  This was the first time I've tried to maintain the colour design of the original fibre which has been an interesting exercise in itself.  With patches of each colour, in no particular order, running in sequence along the fibre rather than in stripes lengthwise I decided to split 70g of the first braid lengthwise into 3 for a 3ply yarn.  As I'd decided I wanted a pair of gloves from this first batch I thought a 3ply would give me the rounder, warmth trapping whilst hard wearing, type of yarn that would be most suitable.  The aim was to spin the singles relatively lightly, with the plying being done much harder to give a sproingy yarn.  It has to be said that I failed utterly at the latter, producing a relatively balanced yarn instead, but have been very happy with how the colour transitions have worked out.  Each single is slightly different meaning some areas are relatively solid in colour, whilst others are beautifully heathered.  Oddly, under electric light the yarn and now glove look almost uniformly brown, whilst in natural daylight the colours glow.  Very odd and actually quite pleasing.  I've opted for a personalised version of the Broad Street Mittens from Knitty as I get very cold hands at the slightest hint of winter.  If I'm honest I've followed the concept rather than the pattern as it was never going to fit, and have opted for a short rowed top to the mitten section to make it lay flat, but the concept is there.  Given the long colour runs in the yarn I was a little worried about the idea of knitting the mitten cap as an add-on as it would be very obvious that it had been knitted second.  As such I knitted that first, placing the palm half of the stitches on a holder etc, then picked up the stitches for the finger section afterwards from the inside of the glove.  A little bit of an odd technique but it seems to have worked well.  When the mitten top is pulled over the only tell-tale is a row of ever so slightly tighter stitches whilst the colours run through beautifully.   That tighter row also has the advantage of creating a natural fold when the mitten top is folded back.  Hopefully I'll get some photos up once I've finished the second glove showing both the design and Patricia's stunning dye work.

A beautiful way to spend a sunny afternoon

It isn't very often that life forces you to have a pleasent time out, but yesterday for me it did.  I'd needed to drop my other half's car off about 40 miles away so he'd have it and house keys when he gets back (I'll then be away with work).  The slight problem was how to get back from somewhere with little to no public transport running anywhere near it.  My cunning solution was to drive down with my bike in the boot of the car, ride the 12 miles to the nearest railway station, and get the train for the remainder.  Given the amazing weather we're having this week I couldn't see a downside to this.  Now like all good knitters I'm rarely far away from my needles, so in with the usual purse, mobile, iPod, puncture repair kit etc I threw in the socks I'm currently working on... and thank goodness that I did.  Turns out that the train home only runs every 2hrs or so!  And I got there 30 mins after one left.  With views like this though in the late afternoon sun I'm not sure I can complain:

And what did I fill those 90 mins with... some sock knitting of course :)

Presenting the MindfulKnits Lace Stitch Markers...

They've been a little while in production but finally I have the first batch of stitch markers ready for sale.  They fit up to 6mm/10US needles, are made from split rings (just in case you accidental knit a marker in) but have the join covered by a bead to prevent snagging if you're using something like Kidsilk Haze.  The bead isn't glued so if you do need to take them off, just slide it to one side and bend the split ring open.  Et voila, knitting saved and stitch marker reparable.

The first couple of sets are single colour, but I am making up mixed batches as we speak for those who like using a different colour to mark different sections. Hopefully I've covered the main problems with using stitch makers in lace, but if you have any suggestions please do drop me a line and I'll see what I can incorporate into the next batch. 

I've not yet got the Etsy shop sorted but if you are interested they are £2.50 a set plus P&P.  Just drop me an email saying which colour you would like and where you are in the world and I'll send you a Paypal invoice.

Just in time for autumn

I was going to say I've just managed to finish my first handspun project just in time for autumn... but September apparently planning on going out on a warm note.  The evenings are definitely getting cooler though so my hard work hasn't gone to waste:

It is the first time that I've done a semi-circular shawl and I must admit it wasn't love at first wear.  It is noticeably shorter in the "wings" than my triangular Laminaria, despite being almost as long in the back.  That said, I'm not sure if is the shape or the use of merino rather than silk, but it sits much better, and holds a shawl pin much better than the Laminaria.  All in all a very wearable day-to-day shawl that I suspect will get a lot of use.  Did I mention how warm it is too?

On a completely unrelated note, I'm hoping in the next couple of days to have prototypes of the MindfulKnits lace stitch markers finished.  Well less the stitch markers (they're already made) and more the packaging.  I'm hoping that a local yarn shop will stock them, but if not they should be on Etsy in the near future.

In this moment I am grateful for... (2)

My parents always being there for me
My husband coming home soon
Two amazing work opportunities
The chance to study with Lama Zangmo
For the lessons already taught and learnt
For the lessons still to come
For all those who challenge me and make me grow as a person
For all those who help me
For all those who throw a spanner in the works

Without them life would be far less interesting :-)

Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra and mindful speech

Sorry I've not blogged in a couple of days, life had somewhat overtaken me, both in terms of what I've been cramming in and pure unadulterated emotional upheaval... more on the latter later.

What I really wanted to share though was a beautiful teaching I attended last Thursday at the Kagyu Samye Dzong Buddhist Center in Bermondsey, London.  Lama Zangmo has just started a 15 week programme on the Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra, often known as A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life.  It has been a long time, both since I have had the opportunity to attend a teaching, or since I've had the chance to spend time in one of the Samye Ling affiliated centers, and Thursday didn't disappoint at all.  Whilst I probably won't manage to get to the whole course (work dragging me about the UK et al.) I do hope to attend a large proportion.

So what was so good?  I've not heard Lama teach before and was struck by her very friendly, approachable style.  This wasn't a lecture, it was an invitation to join in with a learning process.  She spent the majority of the lesson describing the background to the text, how it came to be, who it was that wrote it, and how it has been taught and debated since.  All of that set the scene for the lesson next week.  Although this week there were no questions, time has already been worked into the schedule for later weeks, before finishing each session with 20-30 mins of meditation.

What did I learn though?  Well I'm not as bad at meditating as I though I was!  My leg did do its usual trick of falling asleep, but only just before Lama rang the bell to signal the end anyway.  Finding that inner calm is still not the struggle I once found it, despite not having spent much time on the cushion recently.  Most of all though, I remembered how much I enjoy both learning and the meditation after.

It is easy though I think to keep a practice on the cushion (assuming that is you make it to said cushion in the first place :) ).  For me, the hard work starts when I get up.  As Lama explained, the Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra describes training in each of the six perfections (generosity, right conduct, patience, diligence, meditation and wisdom) in order to obtain enlightenment.  What really struck a cord with me was her description of how you practice all of them within one meditation session... no matter how badly you thought it went!  By dedicating the merit etc you practice generosity, in attempting to set the correct posture - right conduct, in not getting up after five minutes - patience, by actually committing to the practice - diligence, by meditating... erm meditation, and in those fleeting moments of lucid clarity, wisdom.  Rather inspiring I thought.

For me though it is in my daily conduct that I "train" the hardest, especially in "right conduct".  Learning how to find the moment before I react to something though is one area in which I'm actually starting to see an improvement.  I would love to say that when someone hurts me, impugns my character or generally acts in a way I find upsetting, that I treat it with perfect equanimity... but I don't.  In acknowledging that though there is a power.  I know that if something cuts deep I'm likely to react, and that knowledge allows me not to.  I know that I need to think before I speak, else regret it later, and knowing that means I pause.  I've stopped rushing (quite so) headlong into the argument.  I've learnt to see the hook, acknowledge that I want to react negatively, and step away.  Similarly I now know how bad I am at stewing on an event, of planning and scheming my revenge, and of how bad that makes me feel inside.  When you start to look at it, it is insane!  Someone else hurts me so I stew and seeth and plot, running over and over and over what hurt me the first time, each time feeling it anew... and for what?  The person who said it doesn't know that, they've walked away.  The only person hurting is me.  And if I should choose to act on those plots and schemes?  Ok I get a momentary satisfaction at "getting my own back" or in other words making that person feel as bad as I did... meaning I almost always feel awful later.  So they say one thing, and I torture myself twice over... how about I try not to do that any more!

That is not to say I always succeed.  Events over the weekend have had me seething to a quite scary degree.  What for me has been a success though was in not reacting at the time.  I didn't escalate it and three days later I feel good about myself.  I didn't lash out with hurtful words (though it was very tempting).  I stopped and thought.  Even my plots and plans hatched in the dark drive home seem childishly pathetic.  Being aware of them, acknowledging their existence without judging them good or bad, just seeing them for what they are is oddly liberating.  I'm still not sure how to deal with the situation that must arise shortly, but I am sure that a breath, a moment, a second of calm is all I will need to avoid a total fiasco.... wish me luck!

Socks - First Pair finished

Hurrah!  The bamboo socks are finished, cast on for the next pair!  Actually hold your horses on that second point.  I'm hopefully teaching a sock knitting class this weekend or next so might hold off on the second set to have something to demonstrate with.  Speaking of sock yarn though, have a look at this:

Ok so the yellow is a bit mad looking but overall its not too bad.  What would you be thinking though if you got part way through, with no prior notice and found this pink though!

I've got to admit I've not used Noro before and from what I've seen up to now I'm not a fan.  Mad colour changes like this, balls of the same colourway that you'd never guess were supposed to be the same, and if I'm honest, I just don't like the yarn that much either.  Ho hum lets see what it knits like.

On an utterly unrelated note I've frogged the Debbie Bliss Luxury Donegal Tweed coat I knitted last winter!  I've worn it once, feel like a huge lump when it's on, hate the way it stretches under its own weight (the fault of the stitch not the yarn I hasten to add) and hated more than anything how much it cost to knit for it to sit there unloved.  It has been a long year coming but I finally took it to pieces... and oddly feel far better for it.  Now I just need to get a copy for the pattern I should have done the first time!

All washed, now I just need to rewind it into balls ready to knit.

Socks cont.

My top tip for the week, don't rely on a store saying they're in stock of something on their website... phone and check!  The store that shall not be named's site said they had in the needles I broke a set of last Friday... turns out they didn't after I treked over there.  At the risk of being branded a heathen by my fellow knitters, I still don't like Addis despite using a pair to finish these socks with.  On a more positive note, turns out there is one friendly member of staff in there, even if I did have daggers glared at me by the pleasant individual who was teaching last time.

I do hasten to add that the socks are a commission that I need to get finished, and said shop was the only one open when I finished work... literally the last shop (open at that time) in London... ok not quite the world I know ;P

A day of reflection

In the middle of a busy internship, rushing across the south of the country it is easy to miss the moments of reflection.  Indeed, having set myself a number of things that I needed to get done this weekend before heading back to work, I almost lost sight of the date and blogged about the inanities of knitting with no further thought of the wider world.

Like everyone else I can remember exactly where and when I heard of the attacks ten years ago today, and the repercussions those events have had in the years following.

If I could wish for one thing though, for one thought to permeate the world this day, it would be for compassion.  Towards those who lost loved ones, to those who gave their lives attempting rescue, to those suffering the after effects of grief, stress and ill-health and to those who continue to risk their lives in the name of freedom.

I would also wish for compassion towards those living in such fear that they strike out at others, towards those who speak before they think sowing the seeds of hatred, to those who feel such hatred.  How can they find happiness in this life or whatever comes after, with such hurt and anger in their hearts. 

Whilst necessary to provide a level of stability and safety, physical intervention, in all its forms, can never provide the lasting answer to the questions posed so starkly ten years ago today. Only by learning to listen, forgive and hold each other in our hearts can we hope to heal such wounds.

In this moment I am grateful for...

In no particular order:

The love of my husband
My family
My health
Having a roof over my head and food to eat
An internship that challenges me
The women I shared a room with in the Youth Hostel this week
The knitters, spinners and crafters that brighten my life
The simple enjoyment of creating something myself
The staff in Costa who made me laugh
All those this week who have taught me patience
All those who have made me think
All those who by their words and deeds have taught me compassion
Those perfect moments of peace

Stitch London

I have to give the amazing Stitch London crowd a shout out after a superb evening on Monday at the Festival Hall.  I'd very sensibly managed to grab dinner on the way between work, hostel, quick change into jeans from a suit and heading over to the South Bank, as I didn't get back till gone 11pm!    What a great place to meet up and knit in!  I'm sorry I was utterly useless at remembering people's names but wanted to say thank you anyway.  I hope the ladies I sat with at the start make it back to their respective countries safely (without the authorities confiscating needles/hooks/etc at check in) and that you all have a fabulous time traveling around the UK.

Autumn's Gift

I recently ordered two beautiful braids of roving from the truly delightful Patricia of Yummy Yarns UK.  If I'm horribly 100% honest they weren't quite the colour I'd expected (the joys of monitor variation, NOT I hasten to add any fault of Patricia's) but I've got to say I possibly love them even more than what I was expecting. 

When loading them up into Ravelry though I was suddenly stuck when putting in a name for them (for non-Ravelers, whenever you place a yarn or fibre in your stash you have to enter the name of the yarn etc.  Easy for shop bought commercially produced stuff, not so much for handspun).  My moment of inspiration though was in looking again at the braids.  I'd already decided that I wanted to make a cowl and mittens set from them, to snuggle into on those cold morning commutes, and the weather here has just begun to take on the slightest hint of autumn.  

With that in mind,  a sense of gladness for another academic year completed, new job opportunities on the horizon, the potential for a Masters degree in the near future... and of course finally seeing my DH again soon, "Autumn's Gift" just seemed to fit...

Socks from (almost) scratch

Ok I have to admit to the "almost" before I start.  I didn't shear the sheep, prep the fleece or dye the yarn... but apart from those small bits I'm doing these socks from scratch... well from the spinning phase onwards anyway.  So what am I starting with?  Back at FibreEast I managed to get two 100g braids of BFL/Seacell for £5 each.  With the dark blues and blacks in the fibre, shot through with the very pale blue of the seacell, I thought they'd make a pair of socks that I can get away with wearing for work.

My first step then was to split the fibre into three, one for each ply.  Luckily with the braid being, well a braid, that was nice and easy.  I've also decided to do the spinning on my shiney new Turkish spindle from IST.  I'm away from home quite a lot at the moment so I want to be able to do my plying preparation as easily as possible.  The center pull balls that you get from a turkish I'm hoping will make it easy to wind a plying ball once I've got the singles finished, with no need for bobbins or a lazy kate.  As you can see I've got the first third spun up and have the second two ready to go.

And for a slightly gratuitous shot of the finished first cop:

For those of you not familiar with the turkish style of spindle it has a really nifty trick in that it comes apart, allowing you to remove the cop without re-winding.  The shaft first slips out downwards, then the two arms slide out from each other and the cop, like so:

Leaving me with:

Two more sets of singles and I'll be ready to ply.  After that I need so check the yardage I've managed and decide on a pattern.  I currently suspect that I'm going to get a mildly heathered variegated dark blue yarn, which I'm tempted to try my first patterned sock with.

One quick note on the fibre itself as this is the first time I've used either BFL or seacell.  The BLF is beautiful to work with, drafts very smoothly and is crimpy enough to not slip.  The seacell on the other hand is being a bit of a pain.  It tends to stick to itself causing barber-polling and if I'm not careful detaches itself completely from the BFL.  I'm not sure that I'd go for this mix another time unless it was more blended.  It seems to be working out ok at the moment though.

The start of a much better night in London

What more could a girl want, good food, a new spindle, some beautiful fibre (BFL/Seacell for those interested) and headed out to spend time with friends :-)

A disappointing night in London

Tonight found me in London with the interesting choice of sitting on my own in the Youth Hotel all evening, or seeing what knitting clubs I could find.  For once though I'm not going to say where it was that I ended up.  Naming and shaming isn't really fair.

To be as fair as I can I should say that I took them at their word that for as long as they were open people were welcome to drop in and knit... so I did.  Yes it was evening time (but they are open late), and yes there was a beginners knitting class on, but rarely have I felt like I was so unwelcome.

Ok first up, when I wander into a store a hello is always a good start.  Next up, when a customer says they're in town with work, and that they've called in because they're lonely and your website said that people could come in and knit, I would humbly suggest you either say sure come on in, or nicely explain that tonight things are a little different as the classroom downstairs is unavailable.  The yes you are free to knit, but only if you sit at that separate table over there, approach was erm interesting.

Now I don't know about you but a bunch of knitters in a room don't normally ignore each other.  We are on the whole a sociable lot.  It was a bit of a surprise then that in the (long) lulls between instruction any attempt at conversation was utterly rebuffed.  Actually, if I'm honest it wasn't that much of a surprise.  If a tutor had spoken to me like that in a class that I'd paid for, I would have been asking for my money back.  When has it ever been a good instructional technique to say how hard something is to do (casting on!) before the students have even tried... well I could suggest a reason but out would be less than charitable!  The word Bagheera does however spring to mind.

All in all it was a real shame.  The shop is stuffed full of beautiful yarns, they have an amazing range of needles and accessories, they even have some awesome looking project bags... and will I ever go back to buy something?  Not unless it is the last yarn store on Earth... and then only of I'm out of fibre too ;-)

Adventures with Silk

Whew!  One mammoth swatching, stitching and writing session finished.  As promised the write-up from the silk spinning class at FibreFest 2011:

Jane started the class with a talk about commercial silk production, the reason being the majority of preps that we as hand spinners use are rejects or offcuts from this process.  It was good to finally get my head round what each of the different terms meant as I now have a relatively good idea of what I'm buying and what I can expect to produce from it... note to self never ever ever buy 10kg of carrier rods, dyed or not! (Only funny if you were there sorry).

The best part of the class though was getting to try out the various different preps.  I've ended up sewing them in slightly out of order from how I spun them but I'm not sure it makes any difference.  First up in my notebook is the throwsters waste.  This is basically the off-cuts from the reeling/weaving process.  Apparently you can buy them still gummed for not very much and then degum them yourself, or save yourself the hassle and buy them ready dyed and degummed.  Either way we cut it into shorter pieces as the staple length varies massively before carding it.  It was my first attempt at carding anything so I left it fairly uneven rather than worry too much.  Unsurprisingly it ended up fairly slubby when spun.  For my own spinning/knitting I can see the potential, but unless it was much cheaper than silk tops I'm not sure I'd bother with the added time of carding it myself.

Next up was the tussah silk top.  I've never see this in its natural colour and can really understand the comment of "spun gold" now.  When spinning it it drafted like butter, but got absolutely everywhere!  It is so fine and so light it sticks to everything.  I think it took me the best part of a week and several washes before my dark jeans stopped sparkling!  The top sample is a set of singles as this is how I've tended to buy pure silk in the past.  The bottom is a laceweight 2ply which I really wish I'd photographed on the spindle as singles.  It looked like I had a drop of gold somehow stuck there instead of a cop :)

The latter may also have resulted in a slightly expensive trip to the Oliver's Twist stall!  Oh well :)

The next prep was spinning straight from the degummed cocoons.  Here I have to own up to absolutely hating this fibre.  Spinning it was fiddly but not too bad, and the cocoons themselves tend to be cheap as anything.  The yarn though, urk!  It is slubby which I'm not a fan of but worse than that, have you ever bitten a towel?  You know that horrific squeeking feeling that goes right through you?  Yup it does that between your fingers as you knit it.  I hate it, I hate it, I hate it and it very nearly didn't make it into the book for that reason.

The second sample though redeems the page.  It is spun from silk hankies.  These have to be one of the easiest things in the world to spin, but one of the hardest to get even, for me anyway.  Basically you carefully peel off one hankie from the stack, then stick a hole in the middle of it.  From there you gently (or not so gently) pull your hands apart to start stretching it out.  What you're aiming to do is to pre-draft the circle of silk to the width you eventually want the yarn to be.  The staple on these is so long that you stand slightly less than no chance of drafting as you spin so all the drafting is done beforehand.  Once you've got the circle at your desired thickness you break it, curl up the resulting pencil-roving-esq fluff and get on with the spinning.  Overall I can see the appeal.  Far less mess than the tops for an almost as smooth yarn.  Now if I can just get my diameter issues sorted I might be convinced.

All in all it was £20 very well spent.  Jane is a superb teacher and the other students absolutely made the class.  Now I wonder what they'll be running class-wise next year...

Adventures with Corriedale parts 3 & 4

Apologies for posting this lot in utterly the wrong order for you.  I had totally forgotten that I'd not yet posted the rest of the sampling, so with no further ado...

Part 3 - also known as attempting to learn how to spin supported!

Well I eventually got the hang of spinning on the Russian, albeit still as a park and draft style.  My diameter control is almost none-existent in terms of anything intentional, but if I didn't think about it too hard (like when talking to utter strangers on a train!) it seemed to come out relatively even.  I have since been told that spinning from the end of commercial top on a supported is a quick way to madness... but I've got to say it didn't work out too badly.  Yes there are thick and thin bits but they're not a million miles different.  Plying it also helped.  Is is considerably less even than my drop spindled yarn, yes.  Is it unusable, not at all.  One thing I did notice though was that it bloomed much much more than the other yarns have done up to now.  Annoyingly, and I should have thought about this before I did it, I don't know whether it is down to the spinning style introducing more air, or that I didn't weight it when I hung it to dry.  Given the amount it bloomed I would guess at a combination of the two.

Part 4 - or how to do a 3ply on a vertical lazy kate/get yourself in utter tangles

I've not done a 3ply before but given my hankering for socks at the moment I thought an experimentation in this field would be a good idea.  The single sample I have I've got to say doesn't feel representative of the majority of the cop.  I think its a little thinner and a little more twisted.  The backplied sample though starts to show the singles better.  I'm not totally sure what use this had given that I then 3plied it but hey its there for reference :)

Ah the plying.  Hmm never ever give a demo on how to ply something when you've never tried that particular version before.  My kate is untensioned so the capacity for lots of backtwist and other general snarlyness is increased.... especially when you mix is a somewhat damaged wrist that can't turn in certain ways at the moment.  Lesson learnt from this one?  Wind a plying ball next time!

Problems with plying aside I was pretty chuffed with this yarn.  I'd been aiming for a finished yarn of about 14wpi.  On skeining it the initial yarn was closer to 18wpi so I decided to dry it unweighted in the hope that it would bloom a bit, and what do you know it did :)  Turns out the Fleece & Fibre Sourcebook has it right.  It wasn't as dramatic a change as the yarn done on the Russian (24 to 18 wpi) but an alteration of 18 to 15 wpi is still worth noting.  The fabric has much more of the "sproing" that I'd expect from a sock weight yarn too.  It is noticeably thicker between your fingers and has a nice bounce to it that I suspect would feel very nice in socks etc.  Not convinced the fibres would hold up to that kind of abuse on their own though!

Adventures with Corriedale - The nice stuff

Well after much sampling of undyed Corriedale, including spinning, plying, washing, drying, swatching, mounting and writing of notes, I finally decided what to do with the beautiful dyed braid I bought from Alison (@Yarnscape) at Fibre-East earlier this year.  Whilst I'm sure the 3ply would have been soft enough it is inherently not great for lace given its tendency to collapse in on itself.  The thicker 2ply wasn't bad, unlike the diabolical wire of my first attempt!  The sample that really felt softest of all though were the singles spun to about 20ish wpi.  So that is what I've gone for.  I've still no idea on the pattern yet but I'm fairly sure it will be another shawl of some description.

These pictures don't even come close to doing justice to the stunningly subtle shifts of colour that Alison has managed to get into the fibre but they give you a general idea...

 First up a nicely dressed spindle (its the 27g Ebony IST):

 

Then two of the yarn close up, one with and one without flash:

 

Socktastic

The occasional downside of knitting a lot of lace is that you crave something simple to knit.  Now the spinning is certainly simple but it just doesn't cut it on the utterly mindless front.  I wanted something that was complete "stick your brain in neutral"... and then I started to crave making socks.  Now this is something that happens to me every now and then.  As a general rule I loath knitting them, round and round and round and round in the same old stockinette stitch, but every now and then I have the urge to knit a pair... or three.  I think what set me off this time was the thought of spinning for something other than a lace shawl.  I'm still new enough that the thought of a full jumper's worth is daunting, a pair of socks on the other hand :)  So I've got some fibre thanks to the Krafty Koala at FibreFest, and a new spindle on order but I wanted to start knitting NOW darn it!

Luckily for me a quick diversion on the way to work via GetKnitted netted me some of the stunning Jillybeans Tweed Sock yarn... and a new set of needles.  Now I have to admit the latter were an utter "well I might be bored later and I could cast on for the socks and hang the fact that I've got a set of 2.5mm circulars at home" moment.  Needless to say I wasn't bored later and driving home I was feeling very guilty at wasting the money on something I didn't really need (there must be a lesson in there somewhere about stepping back from a situation and being a bit more mindful rather than "wanting" all the time).  It turns out however that I got very very lucky... I didn't have a set of 2.5mm circulars.  I do have the KnitPicks DPNs set but prefer to magic loop where possible as I tend to get less of a "ladder" at the crossover points.

So why I hear you say have I cast on with the DPNs?!?  Well I've loaned my ball winder to the lovely Laura at Wool so that those buying insanely long skeins of laceweight can wind it before they leave, meaning I didn't have it at home.  I didn't really feel like winding several hundred yards by hand so called in on the Friday to use it there.  Luckily for me and the other knitter at the shop she's just had her autumn/winter stock come in, including a whole load of luscious sock yarns... many of which haven't come with samples making it harder for her to sell.  I'd said a while back that I'd be happy knitting some up for her so grabbed the first ball while I was in.  One busy train ride home later and I had cast on the first of the shop socks on, you guessed it, the new circulars.  In my defence I try to prioritise commission pieces above my own knitting and avoid using DPNs on the train as I have a bad habit of dropping them, hence starting these on the circulars:

Both are knitting on the same size needles (2.5mm) but are feeling slightly different.  The bamboo is beautifully soft, as expected, but is creating quite a nice thin fabric.  It is dense enough for a good sock but doesn't have much of a squoosh factor to it.  The ball band recommended using 2mm - 3mm needles so for a demo piece the 2.5mm seemed a good pick.  I would worry that the 3mm would be really quite loose for most knitters but suspect that quite a few may prefer to use the 2mm for the extra density you would get.  The Jillybeans was always going to be more squooshy as it is a merino/superwash merino three-ply with lots of loft in the yarn before you start.  These I could easily have gone up a needle-size on without much effect but given that two of the plys are straight merino I wanted the extra strength of a slightly denser fabric.  It does have to be said though that it is a real ugly duckling of a yarn, stunningly beautiful in the skein, less than lovely in a ball but working up to be really quite pleasant when knitted.  They're not my usual style but the idea of Autumn trudging round the streets of London makes me want to have something to make me smile on my feet :)

Enabling at FibreFest 2011

This weekend saw what I think will be my last fibre/yarn related event of the year, FibreFest held down at Bicton College in Devon.  Mum got the train down to stay with me on Friday night before we picked up one of the ladies from knit club and headed down on Saturday morning.  Luckily (somewhat) the weather was kind to us on the drive down and while we wandered around the outdoor animal section, only starting to utterly bucket it down when we got into the first of the main tents.

You know you've maybe done one or two too many of these in a year when the stall owners start to recognise you!  I think I've already mentioned that having spun up the Nightfall yarn I was about 150m short of what I need to knit the Vermont Shawl.  The fibre was a limited edition blend so I was rather worried that I wouldn't be able to get hold of any more.  A quick email to Sara of Sara'sTextureCrafts though and she said she'd take some down to FibreFest for me to pick up or she could post it.  Needless to say I went for the former.  As I wandered over to the first tent I heard my name being shouted.... Darrin had recognised me and had my parcel already in hand :)  Now that is what I call service!  They were pretty busy having managed to get one of the best spots in the marquee but still both stopped to grab some snaps of the Vermont wip:

Mum and I spent most of the rest of the morning just wandering around the first tent and the indoor stalls.  I was very restrained and only bought two reduced braids from Krafty Koala which I hope will make some gorgeous socks (BFL and Seacell if you were wondering):

Lunch is has to be said was literally a bit of a washout.  I'm not sure if it was the fact that the College had reneged on their agreement to provide catering, or that no one had thought of a wet-weather plan but we got kicked out of the building where everyone was sheltering from the rain to eat our picnic outside!  I'm not sure why it was deemed ok to drink tea and coffee inside but our sandwiches would have caused problems, or why someone couldn't take a sensible view on the fact that it was bucketing it down outside, but it was just one more example of the less than stellar planning that had taken place (don't get me started on the faff of booking and they paying for a course!  Apparently giving people money causes them a mass inconvenience!)

Anyway, after lunch I headed off for a brilliant silk spinning class with Jane Deane while Mum continued to mooch around.  I'll do a longer post about the class later when I've got all the samples mounted and written about.  I did have to laugh when I came out though.  For someone who was in two minds whether or not to buy a spindle on the way there, I found my Mum deep in a demonstration of wheel spinning and with a good 300g of BLF and alpaca ready to play with (I had already helped her sort out the dilemma as to whether or not to buy the spindle... like that was ever in doubt!).  A bit more of a wander and I ended up with the following as my final haul:

From top to bottom:  The first niddy-noddy sold by Jane Dean (1m skein length), two BFL/Seacell braids, a set of Atomic Knitting lace stitch markers in a very useful little tin, two braids of silk tops from Oliver's Twists.  All in all not too bad.

Given it was the last event of the year I thought it was a suitable time to take a photo of the stash collected this year ready for spinning over winter: