Time to fly

Hello Secret Pal out there in the ether. Thanks for the pretty picture. I'm now on holiday for a few days. I was going to leave you with a picture of a blue work in progress but I can't get the image from my whizzy new digital camera to upload. I shall attempt again on my return.

The best laid plans of mice and men

Well it’s less than a month now until this year’s Guild competition and the tweed effect bag I had started to spin for is not going to happen. I gathered some of the yarns together a while ago and they were such different thicknesses that 2 or 3 colour knitting of the design I was planning for would not have worked. So Plan B was put in place and is now waiting to be fulled next time I use the washing machine. To confuse my fellow Guild members it is sheep’s colour rather then dyed.

In a spurt of energy, I have also finished knitting the stripy scarf and it is currently blocking on the spare spare bed (there's a guest staying in the spare bed), as is half of dad’s blue jumper And today I hauled the grey ex-dad jumper out (well just lifted it off the back room floor actually), and completed all 4 pieces upto the armpits. I will definitely be making a jumper in the round next time. This week’s lesson is it is very bulky to do a man’s bottom–up raglan jumper when you knit the whole yoke together, esp when the wool is a very heavy weight. The usual lack of planning and foresight meant the lovely Gotland shearling fleeces I had acquired were spun into a very heavy worsted sort of Aran weight yarn. And there is also not enough. I have just started on the last ball and have only done a few rows of the yoke. Luckily I bought some more Gotland at Woolfest and am rapidly spinning some up (challenge 1 – speed, challenge 2 – getting it anything like the same thickness of yarn as the rest of the jumper). My knitting does not suffer tension variations even if I leave it for a year or two, but my spinning does. This could be because I’m not a scientific Mabel Ross follower, except when plying.

And today I bought a digital camera, so hopefully future pictures will be much truer to reality, once I have worked out how to use it.

Angora

This was originally a bag of 100g delicious white angora from Silkwood . I spun it quite finely and produced 554 yards of two-ply. I dyed the hank aiming for purple, but the colours didn’t melt like they do when I dye roving. The colours are also a bit harsher in this picture than reality and I have to confess I didn’t like them. The lesson – I shall just have to practice dyeing yarn! I have stash that was bought for this purpose.










After a few weeks of breakfast knitting and a
short absence while it was hidden in my filing
cabinet when my parents came to visit (it will be a Chrimbo present for mum), it turned into this.

The pattern is Branching Out from Knitty, and it vastly improved in appearance, with the colour changes not quite so harsh, once it was blocked though it did end up a bit longer than I was expecting.





Niece Number Three came to stay again on Friday for 24 hours. It’s as much as I can cope with… She spun some blue roving I had got lying around. The Kiwi wheel is fab for beginners in my opinion, as the rhythm of treadling is made nice and easy by having a double treadle. I then forced her to practice her knitting. Boy was she glad when my brother turned up to take her away from this child cruelty. Not so much textile fun this time but we did go swimming and baked ginger shortbread (a WI recipe of ginger flavoured shortbread with a ginger icing).

After a long time of resisting knitting scarves as I think they are boring to do (yes I do knit boring stockinette for jumpers but somehow that’s more bearable), I have cast on another lacy scarf. This was using a two-row pattern in Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Knitter’s Almanac. The yarn is a random amount of purpley variegated yarn sort of DK weight, and it’s coming out quite stripy. The lesson from this ball has already been learnt – break up the bits of dyed roving to give a more even variegation. I have tried trawling my stitch books for suitable lacy patterns, and have found one for the other half of the Angora. Partly I am thinking I don’t actually have many items to display at our Guild’s annual exhibition on 11th November. And partly I really enjoy starting projects. The joy of seeing a new pattern emerge gets me every time.

Secret Pal 9

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I’m a natural fibres gal. I generally use wool but am trying to branch out to silk and alpaca and other lovely soft things. I don’t like man-made fibres unless they are accompanied by natural stuff in abundance eg sock wool.
2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
Well, the circulars are together in a homemade roll, random pairs are in another roll. I still have the full Aero pack I bought with money my grandma gave me when her sister died in the early 80s, and others are randomly put in jam jars.
3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
Been knitting for 30 years since taught at primary school by a mate. I reckon my skill is between intermediate and advanced as I will happily tackle any pattern, but still have lots to learn.
4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? No
5. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products, etc.) Lilac or lavendar
6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
Yes a very sweet tooth. Green and Blacks white or orange chocolate.
7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I spin and dye wool too. I have got a neglected sewing machine which is probably jealous of the quality time I spend with my two wheels.
8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
Poppy, some rock or folk. Yes my computer can play music.
9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
Pinks, purples, reds, blues, bluey greens. Can’t stand yellow wool (though it’s fine on walls!) and despite it being the colour of sheep I am not keen on brown.
10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
Just me and whatever woodlice are lurking.
11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Not knitted ones since I discovered polar fleece thermal ones. I would not wear a poncho whatever the fabric.
12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Patterns I have to concentrate on, and bags, complicated or not. But I do knit plain stuff too.
13. What are you knitting right now?
The main things are a plain blue jumper for my dad, a green aran-y cardigan, a bag for our Guild competitiion, a carpet bag from Nancy Bush’s Folk Bags and at least 7 other things which aren’t quite so active.
14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Yes
15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
Circulars, or DPNs. Metal.
16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Both and I love them dearly.
17. How old is your oldest UFO?
Not much more than a year, give or take a few months It’s an entrelac bag, and I hate doing entrelac so I have done perhaps three rows of squares and abandoned it for the moment. It will be finished.
18. What is your favorite holiday?
August bank holiuday
19. Is there anything that you collect?
No, if you don’t count the growing number of books on textile history.
20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
Don’t subscribe to any magazines. One day I’ll get round to getting the pattern for Rogue.
21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
Still wanting to be more adventurous in designing own stuff.
22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? Yes I am, but only made 3 pairs this year so far. I’m a UK 4, pretty small.
23. When is your birthday? (mm/dd) 4th November