Recently in Spinning Category

I had meant to put these pictures up on Wednesday, but went to visit Sally in hospital (she broke her pelvis on Monday) instead. So I'm getting around to it now.



Here's the progress on the Tea Leaves cardigan. I've knit about 10 cm more since then. I'm not allowing myself to cast on anything else until I split it for the arms and body - the long rows of stockinette are a little dull for the school holidays.



I finished spinning the Hecate Angorino. Since finishing that spinning project, I've had out my WindWheel and have spun all 100 grams of the Alpaca/Gotland fibre I bought in New Zealand in under 2 days. I'll ply it tomorrow.

It's back to school on Monday for a very busy term 2.

I have been doing a lot of knitting, but it has mostly been on the baby blanket #3, which I'm hiding until it is gifted in about six weeks' time. I finished the blanket two weeks ago. I needed some quick, mindless knitting to get me to the end of the school term, so I dug out the purple merino silk handspun I've had in the stash so long that I just had to do a search of my own blog to find when I finished it (February 2007 - rather apt post title!). In just 11 days I turned the yarn into a Lacy Baktus Scarf. Dead easy.





It's a bit wobbly as the yarn isn't very evenly spun, but I can see me getting a lot of wear out of it in Winter.

Having reached the school holidays, I had some time to plan the next project - another cardigan, desperately required. Two of my cardigans have recently been "retired" as they are wearing so thin and/or have started coming apart, especially at the cuffs. One has even had a new cuff knitted for it before. I have no excuse for my lack of cardigans, except perhaps because my large-knitting-project-energy has all been poured into three successive baby blankets in the past 14 months (there do not appear to be any more in the near future, thank goodness!). And I have an embarrassment of riches in the stash set aside particularly for another three or four cardigans! I have duly pulled out the yarn that has been waiting the longest for the purpose - yarn that my Mother spun for me before I took up spinning (the paper slip in the bag says "September 2005"), and which I dyed in 2007. I would like it to be a cardigan before it is old enough to begin school...

I figured out the reason this yarn has been waiting so long is because I'm scared that there will not be enough and will run out before a garment is complete. Since I had forgotten there was 600 grams, and instead chose something based on a figure of 500 grams, I think I'll be okay. The chosen pattern is the Tea Leaves Cardigan, which is designed for a heavier yarn. So, as I typically do, I've had the calculator out and I've made adjustments for my lighter weight yarn.



The swatch is gorgeous. I cast on yesterday and am already half way down the yoke.

I've been at the Easter show today, demonstrating spinning for the guild, and will be there again tomorrow. More progress on the angorino that I've barely touched since the Summer holidays. I hope to chain ply the second bobbin tomorrow.

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.