Float'n'purl

Goodies, lots of lovely goodies (yum, yum)

Time to reveal my goodies from Sarah! Firstly, my knitted gift is a bath mat in a lovely soft triple stranded Peaches & Creme Cotton which you can see here on Sarah's blog! And here it is in on my galley floor across the Atlantic. The internet still amazes me how a complete stranger in another country can knit me something so lovely........or is that just the kindness of knitters? My other lovely gifts included; a packet of Oregon Berries (eaten immediately by DH), packet of dry roasted hazelnuts (these are simply delicious and taste like the hazelnuts in Cadbury's Fruit'n'nut), hand made hot glass buttons from Linda Steider, a hand painted silk scarf from Lavender Sheep and a sweet smelling bar of organic Egyptian fennel with grapefruit and sweet orange soap which should help my mind focus but body relax - perfect! Thank you again Sarah for being such a wonderful secret pal.

And to continue on the theme here is another FO with yarn also from Sarah! Its a scarf knitted in garter stitch using two different sized set of needles (3.75mm & 8mm) using Phoenix Soya Silk in the 506 - I Candy colourway from South West Trading Company. The pattern actually called for 9mm needles but as I was too impatient to start knitting I used the 8mm that I already had rather than buy anything bigger! I have to say that this yarn was a joy to knit with and has a wonderful drape. The pattern was, as they would say across the pond "a no brainer" so was perfect for picking up when I had a minute or two.

One Skein Secret Pal Revealed!

I've just time to reveal my OSSP spoiler! It's Sarah from Hood River, Oregon, who is not only a fabulous knitter but OWNS A YARN STORE!!!!!!!!!! HOW COOL IS THAT.......! She's living the dream as far as I'm concerned! Just check out these bags - I want one, I want one, I WANT ONE - opps just loosing my self control again!

Over the last three months she has sent me some wonderful gifts, the latest which I will have to post about later as we're getting ready to take our narrow boat "Sissy" out for a trip down the canal this weekend. Lets hope it doesn't rain too much!

At last some knitting (and weaving)

At last I have a FO to show (there haven't been many this year - or last come to think of it). I finished it a few weeks ago but I've only just sew in the ends. Its a gift for my One Skein Secret Pal as the last part of the exchange where you had to knit or crochet with one skein.

The Details

Yarn: 125g HipKnit Aran weight silk

Pattern: Feather and Fan Scarf from Wendy Knits Blog

I had this skein left over from my sister's clapotis, knitted last year and it was too special not to use! I love the colours. They're soooo bright and happy. Not my usual choice but I knitted it with sunsets in Australia in mind (she went there at Christmas). It was also such an easy pattern. I think I've scaled down my knitting ambitions to remind myself that knitting for me is about enjoying the process, not struggling with complex patterns. Although, saying that I'm itching to start on my first shawl.......the only problem is that I have so little time to knit I can't concentrate for too long and my shoulder is causing problems again. Last night I saw my Remedial Massage Therapist who has given me some exercises to do. She would be horified if I said that I'm still kniting since she's already said that I need to do something else like cross stitch. I don't mean to offend anyone but I find cross stitch really boring. It just doesn't "float my boat" (excuse the pun) like other fiber crafts.

Talking of other crafts I have something on and something off my Knitters Loom. 

The first piece I did was too tight. I hadn't tightened the warp enough and had drawn in the weft too tight so I wasn't able to beat using the heddle. I didn't know any of this until a kind person at my Guild pointed out my mistakes. Plus I hadn't warped up centrally so the piece was over to one side. You can see that the material is ruffled and won't sit flat. All part of the learning curve. Anyway I cut it off too short to be a scarf since so I'll have to find another use for it. Maybe I'll just practice tying off the fringe or something?

My second piece I warped up on Sunday night. This time I'm using my own handspun angora/ silk/ merino blend with a viscose/ lurex blend I hand-dyed for both the warp and weft. You can just about see the sparkle. I'm weaving the whole width of the loom as I want a wide scarf/ wrap. Already I think that the weave is too open and I should have used a thicker yarn or as Averil suggested doubled my yarn for the warp but I think the drape should be fine so I'll carry on for now and try to actually finish this it this time!

Get a grip!

Last week we (the Turner girls and I) were invited round to Averil's for Sunday lunch. It was a lovely day. We had pizzas cooked in her clay oven in the garden (and even a yeast free one for me), while crafting away on handmade paper with our gummed silk bought at Woolfest and I learned how to Ply-split Braid. I'm trying to make a necklace using a "Tiger's Eye" Indian Pendant I bought on e-bay recently. Its a really simple technique to do a plain braid but Averil and Shirley have made some lovley three dimensional braids.

I'm finding that just knitting still hurts my shoulder with the RSI so having something else (weaving, braiding etc) to do means that I can still knit now and then.

No, this isn't just an excuse for having too many hobbies (honest!).

Yarns to Dye For

Its funny isn't it that the most comments I've had on my blog was in reaction to my "Extreme Yarn Diet". It obviously struck a cord with a number of people!

As mentioned previously, I was at a dyeing workshop at my local Guild but I've only now managed to download a few photos. So, inspired by the day and armed with a few dyes I had another go at home with some of my Woolfest purchases. I even managed to dye some sock yarn for my Secret Pal (which is now in her posession). The colours look a bit vibrant in the photos but believe me they were this bright in real life! I'd like to try something a bit more subtle next time or maybe mix some colours. All in all I think they're really easy to use and the colours are fabulous! All I have to do now is a bit of spinning :)

Extreme Yarn Diet!

I met a woman last week who really made me think of just how much yarn I've accumulated over the last 18 months. She learned to knit at the tender age of three during WW2 and when she had out grown hand knitted jumpers her Mum would have to frog two of her small jumpers to make a bigger size! So it made me think about trying to USE MY STASH - after all I'd bought it to use! I've decided on the following rule (deep breath):

The yarn diet will exclude the purchase of all commercially spun yarn for knitting projects until Woolfest 2007!

Exception to the rule will include: books, all fiber related equipment, roving for spinning (although I have to have spun what I have before I buy any more), yarns for braiding or weaving on my inklet, beads, buttons etc.

Its a big commitment but I have more than enough yarn to keep me going for years never mind months. Its time to put an end to my hoarding........besides I don't have the space any more!

Winter is here!

At last some normal temperatures outside but all this wind and rain makes it feel like winter already! To add to this the new Rowan Magazine landed on my doorstep on Saturday. My favourites are: Cobweb, Sorrel and Celtic. My nominations for You Knit What?? would be Bella Rose Corset - where would you where this to? And of course Arwen - its a lovely pattern but who in their right mind would knit a ballgown. I mean for one thing it would be REALLY HOT, secondly who would knit all that stockinette and thirdly if you knitted the smallest size it would cost £187.50 in yarn alone never mind the time it would take to knit! I don't like slagging off designers who have obviously worked very hard on their patterns but surely some things are only suitable as a one off art piece? Or is it just me.................?

Going to Borders in Warrington tonight to a knitting group for the first time - well I hope they're there as I can't quite remember what week of the month they meet but its a rare Wednesday at home for me this week so I thought I'd go with the Turner girls. If there isn't a meeting we can still have coffee and a natter to ourselves plus a bit of knitting!

Woolfest revisited (Part II)

What, two posts in one day! Yes, I'm trying to play "catch up" with stuff that's happened over the last few weeks.

Flash your stash: the weekend following Woolfest us girls met at mine for lunch and a lovely day of spinning/ showing our Woolfest purchases. Averil forgot her's (conveniently!) so we couldn't shame take delight in her stash but here's a picture of Janet's haul.

Shirley bought herself a Marudai top. I have to admit to having no idea what one was until I saw Averils here being demonstrated by Shirley. I just took it for granted that there was some kind of machine that made braids and never even considered that it was an art form!

I'm afraid to say that I didn't get a picture of Shirley and Ali's haul but later on when DH and the girl's brother John came home we found a different use for Ali's brown Alpaca!

A nice comb over for DH!

John with a lovely handlebar moustache and long hair (both boys have nearly-shaven due-to-receding-hairline haircuts!).

More facial hair and a comb over (very popular). And I couldn't resist having a go too. Especially as I've always wanted long hair..........wonder if it will catch on?

P.S we're a bit worried about John's obsession with fiber. Here he is a few months ago with some Wensleydale on his head!

Woolfest Revisited (Part I)

I managed to find my Woolfest pictures on my phone. Somehow I thought I'd lost them (duh) but being the techno idiot I am they were there all along. It seems like quite a while ago now so I'll just let the photos do the talking.....