Going Continental

For all the years I have been knitting, I haven't really tried to master the continental way of knitting even though I'm told it's quicker and easier. So, I watched this on You Tube 

The most difficult part is holding the yarn firmly enough to make sure of an even tension, but not too firmly to stop it moving freely. Somehow, I seem to be finding it very hard to make progress, but in the true spirit of adventure I'm persevering.

So what are the advantages? Well, the garment definitely grows faster. Because the yarn is held still and isn't wrapped around the needle, your arms and shoulders don't have to move as much. This makes it easier right? So far the jury is out.

My friend Lisa, who is German and is an accomplished continental knitter has offered to give me a tutorial and in return, she would like me to show her how to knit the English way! Nowt so queer as folk!

So next post might include a photo or two! In the meantime, I'm having another try so that the DGG has a nice thick chunky sweater in time for her next lot of lambing duties next month!

January Blues

It seems that we are no longer waiting for our buyer as we thought we were, just any buyer. It is really frustrating when people don't let you know and we are both feeling a bit down. But having said that, I haven't been idle.

So what have I been up to. Well, over Christmas, I knitted two socks, (unfortunately not the same pair, but the second one of pair one and the first one of pair two); two moebious scarves (one was too small so I had to knit a second) and a crochet curly wurly scarf! Well there wasn't anything on TV that we wanted to watch and it rained quite hard.

Then back home to a festive meal with the DD and her family when we demolished an extremely large joint of beef at one sitting followed by a very dubious sponge pudding!

I have now finished spinning the 50 grams of Camel and Silk I started back in the summer, the Merino and Silk I started in Autumn 2010 and am now setting out to spin the silk singles for my intended weaving project, unless something more interesting comes along. It just might because I have decided that spinning a very fine yarn, not only takes ages, but gets a bit boring!

The DH has a very fetching pair of fingerless gloves, just completed and the second sock is underway! Another moebious has been cast on, but I may need to find a bigger circular needle because the yarn is quite thick and I may have cast on too many stitches.

We went to London for the day to see the Leonardo exhibition at the National Gallery which was very enjoyable apart from a rather injudicious choice of footwear that caused me to have very sore feet. No photographs allowed, but we treated ourselves to a catalogue ( reduced of course!) and also a very nice cream tea. Although the lighting was very low, and it was very crowded and hot, it was possible to get quite close to the paintings and drawings and there seemed to be an innate understanding between everyone as to when to move on and let someone else get close.

My favourite exhibit was the little notebook in which Leonardo had made some drawings and had written some notes in his famous mirror writing. The book was tiny and quite tatty and you could imagine that he had just put it down even though you know that he last handled it 500 years ago.

Not much to photograph as it's been so dismal, so  here are a few shots taken in Trafalgar Square on our day out. This is "Tom" a young street artist pushing a tennis racquet over his body while riding a huge unicycle! A true artist!

 Here is a magnificent ship in a bottle which occupies the Fourth Plinth.

 Here is yours truly. Head and shoulder's only please Dave!

 And the Olympic Clock, which it seems is the tourist's choice of photographic background!

Back to the knitting!

While we wait

Having finished my scarf in record time and finding it admired despite the mistakes, and as if I haven't got enough to do, I'm planning my next project. If a buyer for the house materialises, well, they'll just have to take their turn!

Some time ago, I treated myself to a book by Elizabeth Wayland Barber, called "Women's Work". This is a book that investigates the use and develolpment of textiles from prehistoric times to the recent past and is a very good read. Among other things, she describes the use of magic numbers in various woven items and how these can be used to enhance the effect of light on the cloth. She talks about weaving with alternating groups of singles threads which are z and s spun and how this must have had some significance to the people who made them which is now lost to us. This fascinates me because I realise just how much  work is involved in planning a project and  brings home to me how much our prehistoric ancestors knew that perhaps we have forgotten.

I haven't woven with singles yarn before, let alone hand spun singles, but in my usual bull at a gate fashion, I'm going to have a go. I'm not sure whether I will be able to incorporate magic numbers as well, but we'll see.

For now, I'm starting with some lovely Tussah silk sliver from Adelaide Walker and I will need to find a way of ensuring that I spin to a consistent thickness, but also make the twist high enough to withstand the hammering it will get during the weaving process. But before I can start, I will have to work out how wide my piece will be, how many ends per inch there will be and how much yarn I will need in z spun and s spun. So in effect, I will need to plan the warp before I've even started spinning and then work out the number of wraps per inch my yarn will need to be. Having made the mistake previously of having more threads than there were heddles I'm not making that mistake again. I hope!

Should I play safe and use wool to start with? Well, wool is a wonderful fibre, but unlike my prehistoric sisters, I am much more free to choose which fibre I want to use and I love the look and feel of silk. Also, I think that it might have a more dramatic effect and that there will be more contrast between the two singles.

That's the theory anyway. Photos to follow in due course!

I'm weaving

So off I go to the Festival of Quilts and I came back with some beautiful silk yarn. This is hand dyed by Oliver Twists who sadly don't have a website, but do go to many shows. This is the yarn which is space dyed. There are two colourways, both orange, green ish, one darker than the other. the warp is the lighter colour and the weft is the darker.

I was so careful measuring and winding the warp, working out the sett, threading in the right order and sleying the reed that I was convinced I had it all done correctly. Sadly life is not that simple. I've come to the conclusion that no matter how many times you count, measure, check it all AGAIN, there's always a mistake you don't spot!

As you can see, there are threads crossing in the reed, so the shed is not opening correctly on some passes and this leads to MISTAKES. But only Allah is perfect and I had already woven too much to start again when I finally admitted that I'd got it wrong.

Anyway, I will end up with a lovely scarf that everyone will admire and say how beautifully woven and I'll bite my tongue and hope that any real weavers will discreetly sigh and not make rude comments!

So a success story instead of weaving problems. Here is my pirn winder made by my lovely DH for me from an old hand drill!

Don't you just love it!! Back to the loom!

Weaving Harris Tweed

The good news is that Harris Tweed is still being woven on the Islands and the independent weavers are flourishing after a bit of a set back. I went to visit Sheila Roderick on the island of Scalpay. both Sheila and her partner John are weavers and although they weave traditional Harris Tweed, Sheila also weaves with linen mohair and other fibres. She is also a hand spinner making beautiful art yarns for sale and for use in her weaving. She does most of her spinning in the winter months and uses a lot of Sparkle to make up for the dark days! At the moment Sheila has a linen warp on her traditional Hattersley loom which she is weaving into cloth that has been commissioned for costumes for the feature film, "The Hobbit". Sheila receives regualr commissions for films, theatre etc and also runs workshops in spinning and weaving on the islands. The couple also run a traditional droft with sheep, chickens and John catches fish fo sale! It's a hard life as the land is poor, but they love it there. I would have loved it more had the sun shone, but it rained so we didn't see it at it's best!

I did manage to find out that there is a group of spinners who meet at the Kildonan centre on the island of South Uist, but was not able to meet up with them. There seems to be a lot of interest in spinning and weaving in the islands, much more so than on the Scottish mainland and long may it continue!

So for my next project, I will be using some yarn that I bought on Harris to weave my own version of Harris Tweed. Sadly, I can't add the trade mark orb symbol to my cloth, unless I manage to take my loom etc to Harris and weave it there. Now there's an  idea!!!

Moebius Madness

You know when someone says, "I've just been on this fabulous workshop and etc...." and they show you what they did and you think, I could do that. Well, this happened to me lately when a friend showed me a lovely moebius scarf she had made at a workshop at a new(ish) yarn shop Create in Ilkely.

So I came home and found some very interesting videos on Youtube and discovered Cat Bordhi and her instructions for casting on and knitting these unusual scarves. It took me a few frustrating goes to learn the cast on and knitting the first row is a bit tricky, but then it's just like ordinary knitting in the round. Except that you end up with this....

It just like magic and it has the added advantage of keeping your neck warm! Now I can't stop knitting them and am getting more adventurous with lacy patterns and fancy yarns. Looks as if all my friends and relations will have very warm necks next Autumn and Winter! Who said that retirement is dull!!!

The importance of clearing the shed!

No, not the garden shed!!!Weaving is continuing apace on my 2/2 twill sample blanket. The photos show my first attempt and highlight the importance of getting the tension even and making sure that all the threads are behaving when you lift the shafts. You can see that there are quite a few missed threads and dodgy bits where I have gone ahead without checking the path is clear for the shuttle to pass through cleanly. So reluctantly, I decided to call it quits for this and cut it off the loom.

This gave me the opportunity to get the warp tied on correctly and even up the tension. What excellent timing because Stacey Harvey-Brown put some instructional videos on Facebook and these were so useful in helping me tie the warp so the tension was even. So now I have cracked the tension problem, clearing the shed is a doddle and my weaving is much better with fewer mistakes!

Next up is clearing Dave's wood work shed! Now there's a job!