Bits and Batts

My latest yarn has been spun, plied and washed and is now waiting for me to decide what colour to dye it. It is a 50/50 blend of cashmere and tussah silk bought from Adelaide Walker of Otley. I was lucky enough to have been given a voucher to spend there as a present from The Bradford Guild following my year as chairman. The fibre is lovely and has a wonderful sheen, but is not all that easy to spin evenly. I decided to spin before dyeing as I feared it might felt. I chose to spin it on my Timbertops Leicester wheel using the slowest ratio (8:1) as I was aiming for a soft yarn that would drape well.

The yarn has turned out to be a bit uneven. I was aiming for a laceweight, but I have ended up with something nearer a 4 ply. Even so it does seem to drape well and isn't over twisted and the beautiful sheen seems to have been preserved. I have found a lovely pattern for a shawl and I think it will do very well although I'm not sure it will be good enough to have the "Wow Factor".

The next step will be to dye it and I have decided to use the Kemtex easy dyes as they are very easy to use and there are some lovely colours.

I still have another 150 g to spin, but I think I will use a higher ratio to make a thinner and hopefully more even yarn. I doubt that it will be strong enough to use as a warp, you never know! The sheen would show off beautifully in a twill weaved scarf.Yum!

Sadly I missed the guild meeting on Satuday, so didn't get an opportunity to make my piece of half felt to use at the Jackie Lunn workshop next month. So I got out my drum carder and had a go at some batts. I have a huge bagful of Merino tops in all sorts of colours and ended up with some really lovely colour blends.

So, my next job will be to get out the bubble wrap, bamboo mat, rolling pin and soapy water and get the elbow grease going! Watch this space!

New tricks for an old dog

You know you're getting on a bit when you sit down to watch a tv programme and wake up to find that you've slept through most of it. Thank heaven for the I Player, although watching day time tv remains my dirty little secret! So, I've taken to knitting while watching tv, using the theory that, you can't fall asleep while your hands are busy. It may be that science will want to undertake an important investigation of this in due course, but  meanwhile, I can report my own results. It's not true. I can and do fall asleep while knitting, Indeed, it can happen mid stitch, until roused by some loud background music to illustrate splitting the atom etc, when I  awake and carry on as if nothing had happened! Something had to be done, but what?

I saw an advert from Interweave press for a email newsletter called Knitting Daily . This is really just to get you to subscribe to various magazines or buy products they are advertising, but there are some free patterns and some really useful hints and tips. One of their recent  emails was all about "Old Nowegian Cast On"! Until recently, I thought there was only one way to cast on stitches, but that was before I became a Knitter rather than just someone who knitted! There were diagrams, but even standing on one leg and closing one eye, they seemed impossible to follow, and then there was the video! Wow, having watched it several times, and tried to follow it with yarn and needles at the ready. I just couldn't do it! How could I ever go along to Thursday knit night at Baaramewe when I was so ignorant and inept!

Although it is possible to spend hours watching knitting videos on You Tube, some of which are so bad that you end up rocking with laughter, there is no substitute for practise. So that's what I did., and now after a week of screaming frustration, I can do Old Norwegian cast on, longtail cast on, contintental knitting, [knit and purl including yarnovers etc], cable cast on and magic loop knitting!!! All this in just one week!

Would this solve my problem? I decided to put it to the test. So last night we started watching dear Jim Al-Khalili telling us all about man-made elements and the Periodic Table and I made use of the newly acquired talent and cast on for a sock with a result any Old Norwegian would have been proud of and guess what? Yep, woke up to find I'd slept through most of the programme!

Anyway, at least now I don't feel quite as inadequate in the knitting department. I just wish I wasn't sleeping through so many tv programmes about important scientific discoveries. I wonder if there are any videos I could watch on Youtube? How to make your own nuclear bomb for instance!!! I wonder what the Old Norwegian method for doing that is!

It's a long time!

I have been busy, so haven't posted here for a while. Well, more than a while, but I thought it would be good to start blogging here again.

One activity that has taken up a great deal of my time, is being Chairman of the Bradford Guild .  My term of office came to an end last weekend and I have to say that it is a relief! Acting as Chairman and speakerfinder was a real strain and I discovered that I am not really a committee person. Some of my fellow committee members were very helpful, but some were not and as I am so inexperienced in the way of these things, mistakes were made! However, everyone was very complementary and I got a lovely present so no harm done.

Having acquired a lovely Timbertops Leicester wheel, I feel guilty that I have done so little spinning over the summer. So I'm making up for lost time now as I'm spinning some wonderful Cashmere/ silk blend that I got from Adelaide Walker. Their service is excellent and their prices are very reasonable. I decided that it would probalby not be a good idea to dye the fibre before spinning it, so will spin first and dye later. I'm trying to spin it into a fine laceweight so I can knit a lovely drapey shawl! Photos will follow in due course!