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?
Monday, 31 October 2011
Friday, 28 October 2011
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.
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.
Monday, 24 October 2011
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:
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:
Sunday, 23 October 2011
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.
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.
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