No such thing as too much wool

Wool ramblings, spinning, dyeing and knitting

Monday, February 26, 2007

More exuberant thanks

I've been sent the Rogue pattern by the lovely Kadi who is my SP9 Angel. MANY MANY MANY THANKS!!! (no links as the new allegedly improved Blogger is eating them) I’m going shopping in a couple of weeks and will definitely be getting yarn for this. I’ll also be buying wool for my mum as she now looks upon me as her bespoke knitter. She asked me to knit a light cardi for her birthday to take on holiday in autumn, and how could I refuse?

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Serendipity

I’ve been off work today with a stinking cold. Sat at my computer by the window in the front bedroom this morning I saw a Royal Mail van pull up and the driver headed in this direction. I legged it downstairs (still in PJs at 10.30) and said good job I’m off sick and the nice man not only gave me a parcel but gave me my milk which was still on the step.

Enough ramblings. It was a gorgeous package of wool and other fibres from Emma, my Handspun Skein spoiler who had stood in after my original spoiler flaked, all comprehensively labelled. The package is for both Jan and Feb. First up – this is actually purple, not blue. It’s Romney and mohair, beautifully subtly variegated with a nice sheen. More serendipity as I was just thinking of finally joining the hordes knitting fingerless mittens. I have got up to the first repeat of these
Second up - Manx Loughtan and Border Leicester with laceweight Shetland ties dyed with madder and cochineal. Spookily I have just been thinking about getting a Manx Loughtan as I know a couple through my Guild who have a flat there.

Third up – a merino/silk mix roving in pretty pinks and green for me to spin. It is such an edible colourway. And there is a calm candle and a Lush bathbomb too.
An ENORMOUS THANK YOU EMMA. Your spinning is superb and makes me itch to get at my wheel and try things out and improve my own. And even better while I have finished typing this, I realise I can breathe again and haven't sneezed for ages. The power of wool!

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Ends

A note on all those ends in the kilim bag photo. I am not a knitter who knits in the ends as she goes along. I like intarsia and will of course twist threads to prevent holes, but have never managed to knit in the ends without making a bulge and I also feel they are not secure enough. This bag would have challenged my limited skills in this direction as the front face is reverse stocking stitch. But to prevent purls of the wrong colour showing, any change in colour is done with the front facing with a knit stitch while all that can be purled is. This makes nice V shapes instead… I usually wait until l finish knitting a piece before sewing in the ends too, crazy as I hate it, but I think it is superstition. Frogging when sewing in of ends has commenced is a pain. On one jumper which was sort of Navajo style with lots of triangles and stripes, I had about 1000 ends. That took a while.

Interweave Knits. Well I’m still waiting for this blogger’s boyfriend’s comments. In the meantime, my general view is Bohemian chic is not for me.

Saturday I trekked to Cheltenham for the Stitch and Creative crafts show. This is a small affair with a host of cardmaking stalls, a couple of fabric ones and a couple of yarn ones. I left the house at 7.30 and thanks to someone having an accident on the M5, which was already down to one lane because of roadworks, causing it to shut completely, we reached the show just after 11. We should have got there for opening time at 9.30. I knitted a lot of creamy sock pair#2 (the driver was jealous she couldn’t knit even though we were travelling at about a mile an hour), and finished it later in the day. Nice to see the Glouc Weavers Spinners and Dyers, local lace people and Quilters. It was fantastically busy until about 2 then practically noone stopped to say hello or say “I haven’t seen anyone knit socks since I was a girl” (always said by an OAP), or “I love making socks”. Only bought a book on yarn dyeing (another one – I think they like company). We played I-spy to keep ourselves entertained.

If my Handspun swap pal is out there, hi, do get in touch!

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Procrastination

Nice to know that handmade gifts are appreciated. The owner of the creamy walking socks has been wearing them constantly since Christmas day, and even made sure he handwashed them carefully. He remembered a jumper his mum had knitted for him shrinking to doll size when he was a lad and wasn’t taking any risks. He’s been out in the woods all day today and says they kept his feet good and warm. As I have another couple of skeins of that yarn hanging around I shall be making another pair as a belated birthday present.


This tangle is no longer such a tangle. I've cast it off, sewn about half the ends in so far and now need to block it and make a back. It’s not quite a year old and has been sat on the floor for most of that because of the numbers of balls of wool on the go. Doing that is preferable to finishing knitting the baby blanket together. I must finish that before the baby is one...