Peat Three Ply

Peat, originally uploaded by Bright Side.

Russ bought me two more bobbins for the Ladybug for my birthday, so I've finally been able to make a "real" three ply instead of a navajo ply. As much as I love the navajo ply (no waste!) there's something slightly different about plying with three separate threads.

This yarn is 226m and 117g of superwash merino loveliness, hand dyed by Hello Yarn. The superwash process does make the fibre very soft, and I've ended up with a gorgeous bouncy DK weight, perfect for a BSJ.

I don't have any projects on the wheel or spindle at the moment. I shall take some spindle projects away with me over half term- perhaps some organic merino that I bought recently. I'd like to do more silk on the spindles too. Theoretically I *could* take me wheel away now that we've got a bigger car, but that might be taking it just a tad too far!

Peacock Feathers Shawl

FO: Peacock Feathers Shawl, originally uploaded by Bright Side.

I finally managed to photograph my Peacock Feather Shawl. See my Flickr photostream for loads more photos, or there's a set showing the whole process from start to finish.

I finished the moebius stript cowl, and although I love the texture of the knitted fabric, the finished article doesn't really do anything for me. It was a worthy experiment though, so I'm going to knit the Thrive coils into a long, thin scarf, using the enormous 15mm needles.

I've been busy spinning using my Bosworth spindle and some of Megan's shetland/silk fibre. I've finished plying it today, using my Sublime Spindles bottom whorl. I'm thinking it'll be good for our section of the 6 Guilds exhibition which is happening at some point soon. Our guild has to produce a load of purple things, and this fibre will be great for that. I might see if I can get someone at guild to weave with it.

More coils...

Thermograph, originally uploaded by Bright Side.

I think I might be slightly obsessed with coils. After spinning lots of fine yarns in the past few months I'm really enjoying the practically instant gratification of a coiled yarn. This lot is made from Spunky Eclectic bfl in "Thermograph", as well as a silver viscose/metallic thread as the core. I'm going to be experimenting with other core threads soon. Anyway, this lot of coils is going to be a trial run for a slouchy mobius cowl, which I'll hopefully then be making with my "Thrive" coils. I've bought 15mm ends for my denise needles and a huge circular extension so that I can make the mobius strip using Cat Bordhi's excellent cast on technique.

Ishbel in progress

Ishbel in progress, originally uploaded by Bright Side.

After finishing my teddy bear for the baby, I thought I'd take a break from baby knitting and knit something for me. I've wanted my own small scarf/shawl for a while, so the Ishbel pattern by Ysolda Teague looked perfect. I'm struggling a little with the YO between the purl and 3 knit stitches, as when I come back to that section on the next row it all seems to have tumbled out of place, and so there are a couple of places where I've knit the wrong bit. I've checked that I'm doing the YO correctly, so I'm not quite sure what the problem is. I'm going to muddle along and see how it turns out in a few more rows.

The shawl is knit in my own 2 ply handspun, spun from Spindlefrog hand dyed falkland fibre in "Rockpool". The mix of greens, yellow and grey is just right for me.

Spinning again

Thrive Coils, originally uploaded by Bright Side.

I know that this blog has been very quiet while the crafting mojo was squished by my morning sickness- apologies. Now that the morning sickness has just about worn off, I'm finally back to knitting and spinning again. Here's something fun I've been working on for our guild Artsweek competition. It's Hello Yarn corriedale in "Thrive", which has made these wonderful squishy coils. I've been doing a bit of experimenting with coils and I think a squishy fibre like corriedale or BFL is what I like best. I've just made some in some "wool top" which although has turned out well, isn't quite as bouncy as the corriedale. I think I'll experiment a bit more with some other fibres and see what happens.

Rockpool

Rockpool, originally uploaded by Bright Side.

I finally managed to finish spinning this lovely Spindlefrog falkland fibre. It came out a little bit thinner than I was aiming at, but it's so pretty that I don't mind! I ended up with 518m from the 100g, which is quite a lot for me. I'm thinking that it will make a really nice shawl for me :)

On the wheel: All Spun Up 70% superwash merino, 30% alpaca in gorgeous jewel colours. Mmmmm, soft and lovely. This is also coming out quite thin, I'm thinking of a n-pled sock yarn.

On the spindle: Warratah Fibrecrafts shetland, in grey and purple, on the Bosworth spindle. It's spinning really easily, and is so pretty. I'm thinking that it'll end up as a DKish weight 2 ply.

New Spindles!

New Spindles, originally uploaded by Bright Side.

I was lucky to add two new spindles added to the collection this Christmas. On the left, a 36g zebrawood Bosworth, which spins brilliantly and is really precision crafted. On the right, a 28g oak burr banded spindle by IST Crafts- a pretty fast spinner and well balanced. I'm really pleased with both of them and I'm looking forward to using them over the next few weeks.

After having a horrible cold over Christmas I really lost my spinning/kntting mojo for a while. It's returning slowly now but I'm still not quite up to speed yet. I have been doing a little bit of spinning, which was navajo plying the second half of sock yarn. Unfortunately it's very slightly thicker than the first lot, but I think it'll be alright when it's knitted, as they're only going to be vanilla versions. Serves me right for not spinning both lots at the same time! I had to put loads of plying twist in too as the singles had sat on a bobbin for ages, and I knew as soon as I put them into soak they'd spring back into life. I managed it quite well as after a good soak it was hanging straight and didn't need any weighting. As soon as that was finished I started some falkland, dyed by Spindlefrog, in a gorgeous green/grey/blue colourway called "Rockpool". I'm spinning it fractal style in a short forward draw to make a worsted- style 2 ply, maybe fingering weightish. I want to make another baby surprise jacket from this but I want it to be small, so to do that I need the yarn to be quite fine.

Flower Mittens

Flower Mittens, originally uploaded by Bright Side.

I've been really busy recently making Christmas presents for my family and friends. It's finally been light enough today (just!) to take some photos. here's a pair of felt mittens for my Grandma. Made from a felted butter coloured angora/merino jumper, I have needlefelted a flower design onto the front. They are gorgeously warm and comfortable- in fact, I want to keep them! The mitten pattern is from Betz White's brilliant book, "Warm Fuzzies". It's such a simple pattern, only three pieces and even with my dodgy sewing machine technique, they've turned out really well.

Snowed under

I'm so busy with school and my Christmas knitting that I haven't rally had a lot to put on the blog lately. More will be forthcoming after Christmas, promise.

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to some time off work for a bit of a rest. I put lots of spinning goodies on my Christmas list so hopefully I should have some new toys on the 25th.

Slow Going

Moonspinning Make Up Bag, originally uploaded by Bright Side.

Blogging has been rather sparse lately as I really don't have a lot to show you. I'm so completely engrossed in/panicking about my Christmas knitting that I'm not having a lot of time for anything else at the moment. My poor spinning wheel sits neglected in the corner, while I knit like a mad woman every evening. I have however bought a little bit more fibre- this time some interesting hand painted top by Moonspinning, that I bought at I Knit London the other week.

Autumn Bag

Hand felted and stitched Autumn Bag, originally uploaded by Bright Side.

Over half term I had an idea for a felt bag that I wanted to make using Spunky Eclectic BFL in "Fall" and some grey and brown Wensleydale. I carded the fibres on my drum carder to mix and prepare them for felting, and then hand felted two A3 sized pieces of fabric with each type of fibre. I'd designed my own pattern and I was really pleased with how well it all fitted together. It's all completely hand stitched, including all of the seams and appliqué. The bag has a felted button closure and a reverse appliqué oak leaf on the front. On the back is a needle felted leaf pocket. The bag is fully lined with the Spunky Eclectic BFL. To finish it off I've put blanket stitch in a co-ordinating orange/pink colour around all of the edges. I'm incredibly pleased with how it turned out, it's just like I saw it in my head.







There are more photographs on my Flickr stream.

Coming soon: some more felted projects, this time from felted charity shop jumpers- cashmere and merino/angora!

Estuary English

Spunky Eclectic: Estuary, originally uploaded by Bright Side.

This blog does have a ias towards Spunky Eclectic at the moment- what can I say? The colours are right for the sort of moods I've been in lately. This is my latest Spunky Eclectic fibre. And the best thing? It didn't cost me a penny! I was lucky enough to win a $20 gift voucher to Amy's store in the Ravelry Spindlers group quarterly challenge. Amy was incredibly generous and sent me two braids, which was a lovely surprise. It was really hard to decide what to go for but in the end I chose BFL (my current favourite fibre) in these lovely green and brown shades. With 8oz I have enough for a larger project. I was wondering about making it DK weight and striping it with some Cornish Organic DK I have in my stash to make a vest or cardigan. I bought a really cute sleeveless stranded yoked cardigan in M&S the other day and I'd really like to have a go at making one myself.

Quack

Spunky Eclectic October Fibre- Mallard, originally uploaded by Bright Side.

This month's Spunky Eclectic club offering had the uninspiring title "Election". I was expecting something blue and red but should have known better, as Amy is much cmore clever than that! What we have instead, inspired by the "Lame Duck President" idea, is a gorgeous 4oz of the sosftest superwash BFL dyed in male mallard duck colours. It's wonderful! It will make a gorgeous pair of socks at some point in the future. I'm thinking of spinning it fractal style to maximise the barberpoling and mixing of colours. It is incredibly soft though, much more than usual BFL. It has a really silky sheen too. If I didn't know better I would say that it had something like tussah silk in it, it's really that gorgeous.

Coming soon: a felted Autumn bag, more fibre, mobius strips and the Oxford Guild dye a bundle challenge.

Falling for Autumn

Fall, originally uploaded by Bright Side.

When I bought my Cascade spindle from Spunky Eclectic last year I also bought a BFL almost solid sampler, well, just because I liked the colours! However, I wasn't sure how to spin it. I wanted to blend the colours but the thought of doing nearly 200g with handcarders filled me with dread. Fast forward to now and I finally have my longed for drum carder. It was *really* easy to blend the colours into some frankly enormous batts. I split the batts lengthways and spun them longdraw as fast as I could, not worrying about the weight or any lumps or bumps. I was going to ply it but after a couple of minutes of spinning I realised that it would make a really nice singles yarn. So I've ended up with 149g and 457m, which I'm hoping to make into a small felted bag (and there might be enough left for some wristwarmers too).

Pick up a Piiku

Piiku, originally uploaded by Bright Side.

This is my latest spinning, 391m/189g of 2 ply Piiku Finnish fleece. The colours range from light cream to dark brown, and it's about 10WPI and a 2 ply. I've spun the colours carefully so that I have two matching skeins that fade from dark brown to cream, so that I can make matching socks. This was my first time trying longdraw, and it worked brilliantly. It's so fast! I've tried the technique before but these carded fibres were perfect for it. I spun and plied one of the 100g skeins in just one day.