Recently in Spinning Category

It is too hot to be wearing sock, but I finished these Jaywalkers this morning.


I have also been spinning the Angorino, filled a bobbin and chain plied it. I'm very happy with how it is turning out - I'm after long stretches of colour. They show up well on the bobbin:


But the skein looks very different.



About a third of the fibre is spun. I would have done more today, but the wheel is being temperamental and I find the best way of fixing it is to come back tomorrow!

I have also been dyeing more cotton this morning. The particular colour (which I won't name as it is part of a surprise) is one of my dyes I haven't used before and I underestimated its strength. So 546 grams (2 cones Bendigo 8 ply plus one ball of Lion cotton) of yarn are consequently much darker in colour than I wanted. I'm waiting for it to dry before I decide what to do next. Partly because colours are always darker when wet, and partly because I have run out of soda ash and can't do any more dyeing until I've got more.

I have a week and a half before I go back to school. It is too hot to do half the things I ought to be doing!

It's always a long time between finished spinning projects as I don't get as much time as I'd like to spin. I've been working with the English Leicester/Kid Mohair/Bamboo I purchased from Freelance Fibres at last year's Guild Open Day since May. Spinning just over 300 grams of fibre within about two months is much better than my average, but this fibre was a delight to spin, and I'm looking forward to knitting it into an Ishbel. The first skein was plied at the Craft and Quilt Fair but the remaining singles and three skeins were plied up last week.



There's about 800 metres all up, at about 18 WPI. So it will be a large Ishbel, unlike the small Swallowtail, since yardage is unlikely to be a problem. Completing this spinning project gives me an excuse to buy more fibre goodness this coming Saturday at the Guild's 2009 open day.

As for knitting, the latest socks are Leyburns in the DIC Smooshy 'Cloud Jungle' - an ugly grey at a distance, but really quite pretty close-up.



The 'blob', also known as "Not Calvert" or "Modified Mr Greenjeans" has descended below bust level and into the lace rib section. The rows are over 250 stitches long, so progress is slow. It still looks like a blob. I'm hopeful it will be less blobby and more cardigan-like before the week ends.

Yesterday was World Wide Knit in Public Day. It was also the day I rostered myself on the Guild stand at the Craft and Quilt Fair. Both were at Darling Harbour, so I spent the whole day there, immersed in crafty goodness.

The morning passed in a flash. I sat and spun at the Guild stand for more than four hours with few breaks as I hardly noticed the time. I spent about half that time spinning singles of the English Leicester/Kid Mohair/Bamboo roving and about half plying a full bobbin of two ply. Most of the usual interest and questions from people who came by. A number of Ravelers happened to come by and I got to put some names to faces. As I wanted to finish plying the full bobbin and not stop part way, it was after 1.30pm before I packed up my spinning wheel. I did a quick whip around a few stalls I wanted to visit, and bought some Habu silk wrapped stainless steel. I can't wait to knit that in front of some muggles!


It was hard work getting out of the Craft Fair and over to WWKIP day at the Bayside Lounge carrying a backpack, bag and my spinning wheel. I was late to the Bayside Lounge, arriving at something like 2.15pm - long after the problem of 50+ knitters and only 25 chairs had been sorted (they were told to expect 75 people - clearly knitting skeptics...). I was shocked that I was 71st to arrive! The total tally was 80 knitters. There were knitters inside:



And knitters outside:


I wound the yarn off the bobbin onto my niddy noddy, counted it for length then put it away. My fingertips were cold and numb from plying for so long in a cold down draft from the ventilation system in the exhibition hall, so I didn't want to do any more spinning. I wanted to knit but I was so tired and spent so much time talking (Yeah, surprising. Not.) that I barely knit a thing: maybe three rounds on my sock? Shortly after the prizes were drawn, I packed up and made my way home, completely exhausted.

This morning I have had out my sewing machine. I turned one of the two WWKIP day bags I bought into a drawstring project bag big enough for a large project. I've been using other bags borrowed from other purposes, and I much prefer a drawstring bag to keep everything for a project together. While I had the machine out, I made a second bag from the last of the Knitting Chickens fabric I bought a couple years back (I wish now that I'd got some of the accompanying fabric with the actual Knitting Chickens on it). So all my WIPs now have their own drawstring bag and some other bags have gone back to their original purpose.



While the camera was out, I photographed all the WIPs. There are Noro socks I shouldn't be knitting since the River Rapid sock still remains without a partner. I hate the colour and the yarn, but it is doing the Noro thing I so like with the stripes. I'm mid-turning-the-heel already.



A Revontuli shawl in the alpaca/merino handspun:



And the much neglected cardigan, even though I'd love to be wearing it right now:



And the English Leicester/Kid Mohair/Bamboo yarn is drying after setting the ply.


There's still more singles on the bobbins ready to ply, and a quarter of the rovings yet to be spun, so this skein is only about a quarter of the resulting yarn. The intention is that it will become an Ishbel, even though that pattern has gone viral. It's damn pretty.

On Monday I handed a marked task back to one of my classes that they'd handed in on April 1st. It was a bundle I didn't get to in the holidays because of being sick and there has been lots of other "urgent" marking getting in the way. By today I'd handed back four different bundles of marking this week. But I received three new bundles of marking. So on the positive side, I'm ahead by one bundle, and, the real achievement, all of it is work that was submitted this week. When I'm not marking, I'm writing reports. Somewhere amongst all this, I think I get some teaching done. No wonder I'm not blogging much!

I could perhaps be excused for not having done any knitting or spinning, but actually I have been doing both. The "mystery project" is very close to finished and ahead of schedule. The "not Calvert" cardigan is nearly down to dividing the arms from the body (sorry, haven't photographed it yet). I still yearn to cast on the lace project I finished the yarn in the previous post for...

I started spinning something new. I bought some lovely English Leicester/Kid Mohair/Bamboo roving last October and it is spinning up beautifully. In two weeks I have nearly half the singles done.



It has a slight purple tinge I absolutely love. I do love my purple...

I also bought some new fibre (just don't ask me when I'll spin the stuff I already have!). Hand-dyed Angorino (95% 17.5 micron Merino/5% Angora Bunny) Tops from Ixchel.



I'm going to ignore the marking for a little while and go do some spinning.

I survived first term but then came down with a bad cold on the Easter weekend. I'm still suffering, even after six days on industrial strength antibiotics. I'll probably just come right in time to return to school on Monday. No fair!

One positive of being too ill to move off the couch is that a fair bit of knitting was done. Charlotte's Pinwheel Cardie finally grew sleeves. I fiddled around with the edging on the sleeves, ripping back about three times, eventually going for 2x2 rib. I'm quite pleased with how it came out.



To decide where to position the buttons, I needed Charlotte to try the cardie on. When I arrived at my sister's house this morning, Charlotte immediately announced she didn't want my cardigan as she like the pink one her Grandma (our Mum) knit her. Well, this was going to be fun! We got it on her once for a few milliseconds before it came off. She said how much she liked the buttons on Grandma's cardie, so I pointed out that I wanted her to put on the cardie so I could work out where the buttons should go. I showed her the buttons, which she liked, but she still refused to put it on. Even bribery failed. So I simply guessed and sewed on a button while Charlotte watched. We got it on her again, long enough to work out the button was too low, before it came off again. I repositioned the button. On again, for seconds, then off. We decided a second button above the first was needed and I sewed that on. The pictures below were the last attempt before we gave up. We didn't get a chance to fix up her top underneath, so the sleeves are sitting awkwardly over her bunched up top.





She had her hair in bunches when I arrived - I managed to get a snap of that on my camera phone. She normally hates having her hair tied up. As you can see, by the time these pictures were taken, her hair is no longer in bunches. Tomorrow she might love the Pinwheel. Contrary child!

Just before falling ill I managed to finish plying the alpaca/merino blend.



And it was dyed with Landscape "Saltmarsh".



I would dearly love to cast on the lace for which it is intended, but I really must start a new cardigan for myself - the one that was Calvert. "Not Calvert" is presently being swatched. It will be a top-down raglan in a similar style to Mr Greenjeans but with a lace rib instead of cable and rib.