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.

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:

Nightfall

Just a quick post to add the photos of Nightfall:

Getting my skates on

Well I've finally finished spinning and plying Nightfall only to realise I'm probably a good 100m short of what I need to knit the Vermont Shawl by Hanna Breetz.  Thankfully it has a) ended up a little thicker than I'd intended, at about 16-18wpi, making it a heavy laceweight and b) Sara at Sara's Texture Crafts has some more of the blend in stock.  Whilst I would have preferred to not be joining skeins mid lace, I think there are a few sections where I can make it invisible without resorting to the thicker patch made by a russian join.  Photos will follow once I've got the skein dry and re-measured to see what yardage I've lost in the finishing process.

The project I need to get my skates on with though is the In Dreams for my friend.  That self-imposed deadline of the 20th is looming very large now!

Of plying and parcels

Today has to go down as a good day in spinning terms.  Last night at knit club I started spinning the final 25g of Nightfall, finishing it before I got to bed last night... and no it wasn't a crazily late finish either.  I have definitely got faster with my singles, and having finally learnt how to butterfly yarn up on my hands my plying has sped up too (though you would rather hope the amount of it I've been doing over the last couple of days!).  So this morning I wound the singles on to the second bobbin ready for plying leaving me with this:

Sadly I've made the mistake of starting the plying on the Ebony IST and I'm not at all sure it will all fit!

On a more positive note a couple of parcels I've been waiting for turned up (finally thank you Royal Mail).  The first was a book called the Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook.  To say this looks stupidly good is an understatement, the only downside being that it is a hardback and weighs a ton for dragging round fibre fairs.  Having glanced through it though, the hastle of carrying it about will be more than worth it.  Wow, just wow.

My other squee moment was opening this parcel of amazingness:

I now have 400g of fibre purely to play with, guilt free if I make mistakes, just to get to know what the breeds are like and how to use different methods of spinning.  Heaven in eight little bags.