i’m so ridiculously proud of this, more than anything else i’ve made all year. it’s 2-ply, 20 yards long and weighs a paltry 5/8oz. i definitely can’t bring myself to try crocheting it up, will do with the brown one but this i’m keeping just as it is.

oooooh i got a parcel from june the parcel contained 2! drop spindles, a bundle of white fibre and a bundle of brown. i’ve spun all the white fibre on the smaller spindle (will weigh it once removed). the white was wonderful stuff - long staples, around 4-6 inches. i did some predrafting as per icanspin.com, split it into narrow lengths, shimmied the fibres apart and spun! i can’t believe how much easier it was than i expected. i even managed to get past parking and managed to draft the fibre on the fly standing up. the single was surprisingly even and the spinning got easier towards the end, suggesting maybe that the spindle was on the light side.

i’ve started on the brown but it’s much crimpier, 2-4″ max. so i’m turning out a fatter single, for fear of the whateveryoucalltherolloffibreyouspinfrom breaking off. it also has a few fluffy lumps in the roving (?I guess?) which are difficult to iron out as they pass by. i’m definitely still at park-and-draft with this one.

oh but it’s fun

update:

the smaller spindle weighs 1 3/8 oz. i think that’s about average?

i andean plied the white single, going from the still pix. it’s nowhere near as complicated as it looks, just wrapping around the hand but going round the back of the middle finger. it worked surprisingly well. i couldn’t find specific instructions on how to set the twist (in my unseemly haste) so i just soaked in hot water for 5 mins then squeezed dry in a towel. i don’t think it needs a weight on it, the plied yarn twisted up a little on itself but only when you held it really close together. will have to read up on how much twist is too much.

so at 3.30 thisafty i had a bag of fluff, i now have approx 20 yds of 2-ply yarn. i LOVE it

also wanted to add my pride at twisting up my own leader out of the white fibre to start off the black.

methinks we’ll be needing a “spinning” category….

Knitting Forums - Angel Yarns :: Index

Natural Dyeing Information

buffet scarf
inspired lace scarf

just cos i’m really digging the lace thing, and hoping to spin some fine yarns (overambitious? moi? :lol:). looking for smallish, guage-independent patterns to show off anything i do manage to produce.

not lace but cables these look lovely, just a shame there aren’t any real closeups. $6.50 for all 4 patterns isn’t going to break the bank, but i’m a little sore after shelling out for a very basic shrug pattern. these look way complicated though

bows and arrows stole a bit holey but i like the way it sits and could be scaled down with a finer yarn.

i can’t seem to find exactly what i’m after in crochet, just in knit, maybe it’s just the nature of the difference between them. i want something very thin and lightweight but without massive holes that let the wind in. will keep looking.

Viscose rayon - the oldest man made fiber - versatile fiber yarn

testament to my appalling willpower; i’m working on another seraphina. i love working with the caribea handspun but it’s never going to be a snuggly next to skin thing, more outerwear and the sproing means it doesn’t have great drape. but since my spot in the front room happens to be the coldest in the house, next to where arctic winds apparently blow through the window (we’re getting some replaced w/double glazed but don’t have funds to do the ones that aren’t literally falling into the street) i thought i could do with one for cwtshing into of an evening.

i wasn’t actually looking for anything specific but the silkiest deep pink jumper in the world refused to let me leave the shop without it. my brain said no as it had a fairly high proportion of synthetics, but my hand said yesyesyes and i couldn’t resist.

now i was under the impression that viscose was a synthetic on a par with poly and acrylic, but something in the back of my mind said it might be the same as rayon, a cellulose fibre that gets great press in the sewing communities i frequent. and so it turns out. the jumper is a blend of mostly cotton/viscose/poly with touches of cashmere and angora. it is impossibly silky smooth with fantastic drape and machine washable. i was looking up the fibre as a possible for spinning and it’s available in the states but couldn’t find much info on how difficult it is to work, needs to be blended though.

the seraphina’s coming on slowly because the yarn’s lace weight again, but i reckon i’m about half way through size-wise and it looks like i’m about half way through the yarn too which is handy. it’s great because the deep collar and cuffs were done in the same yarn but triple plied, so i have more of the same gorgeous stuff but in a more workable weight that might stretch to a pair of gloves (oooh maybe to the fingerless gloves/mittens i’ve been coveting).

from charity shop jumper to crocheted gloves in just over 24 hours. pix (and probably rsi) to follow.

Crocheted Gloves Pattern

i had to rescale the pattern for the laceweight yarn (18 wpi) and unfortunately it didn’t quite work out as double the number of stitches, so i had a fair bit of head scratching to do, especially when it came to the fingers. i didn’t get it quite right and they’re a little wonky, though my attempt to make a left and right mirror pair (despite what the pattern claimed my first one turned out very definitely handed) was pretty successful. they don’t match properly, despite careful counting, but the discrepancy isn’t too bad and they’re wearable. made for my dad who’s miles away so had to borrow unwilling hand model and estimate from my own. because i was against a deadline i didn’t have time to use markers for the ends of rows for the fingers, which i really should have done. some of the fingers narrow drastically then bulge out again where i realised my mistake but didn’t even have time to frog a couple of rows back.

the one on the left looks a wee bit fuzzy cos it show the inside, which i brushed. i was planning to felt them for warmth, so i picked a 100% wool, hand wash jumper, and while the swatch felted nicely it didn’t shrink at all, it stretched. i guess this might be because the crimp left in the wool after frogging meant there was a lot of stretch in the stitches. anyway i couldn’t be sure that the result would be wearable and didn’t have much time, and i remembered someone talking about brushing the inside of gloves. i used the dog brush i have for perking up our sheepskins after washing and it worked a treat - it was quite harsh and stretched them out a bit but i figured since they ended up a wee bit on the small side that was no bad thing. it really did make them super soft and even warmer.

and even though i got the parcel out of the door by 5.15pm it didn’t actually get into the last post at 5.30 because of queues at the post office. so i could have spent the extra time doing them properly…

Lacy Bookmark becomes felted bracelet/choker… pix to follow.

i really liked the colour and feel of the felted sample i made up so i did this little number as a warm-down from my all-night glove session. slightly adapted, i shortened the joining chains from 8 st to 4 to make it narrower. it was going to be a bracelet but then i realised i didn’t have enough rows for the pattern to work out properly so i added more and it ended up too long. i should have been thinking about the ribbon weaving too, as i ended up with an even number of posts, rather then the odd number i needed but it’s not that noticeable.

it felted perfectly and feels scrummy, looks quite cute too if you can get past how badly my table needs polishing.

giant pink bunny. like a postmodern white horse

ananova

and another view

gelatin (project home page)

posted it teeny cos you don’t want to look any closer than you have to. graphic closeups for the strong of stomach in the gallery

i didnt enjoy doing these at all. i do like the diagonal box stitch and it works up really quickly but urgh i’m dreadful at edging. to be fair it was the first time i’d ever done squares (they’re supposed to be rectangular - they’re not that wonky :p), but i can’t make head or tail of where to put the scs in when you run down the side of the rows. add to that my tension being too tight so it was a bastard trying to get each stitch in.

the biggest nightmare was the stripey one, i had to frog half of it cos i’d put in an extra stitch somewhere and it really showed. and why why why did i change colour every row instead of every other? meant i couldn’t just carry the thread as i’ve done with every other colour change i’ve ever done so i had to weave in a million ends that made it even more lumpy and mishapen than it was to start with.

and i’ve been spoiled rotten by working with nice, interesting yarn. i had no money or time to use anything other than leftovers so i had my pick of nasty acrylic. urgh. urgh. urgh.

i’m hoping they will actually be of use (glitter afghan) though i’m pretty ashamed of them, unfortunately not ashamed enough to start all over again.

update: yay! they’ll do. shannon was really sweet about them too, said she liked them. chuffed

spindizzy - uk suppliers and instructors
spinning fiber lj community
icanspin - videos!
rare breed wool info from interweave
spin off magazine again from interweave, some articles available in pdf format
joy of handspinning more videos, including wheel spinning
spindle hook tuning
spinning basics
spinning forums at knitters review
class notes on purlwise
hjs studios tutorials some really detailed info here

not that i’m seriously thinking about spinning or anything. really…

tsk i was going to be sooo good and wait until i’d finished at least one of my 3 current WIPs (not to mention WNYIP that i need to get finished in the next week or so).

but nooooo the caribea lure was too strong. so i did just a teensy bit of the shawl to start out, to see whether it’s worth pursuing…

the yarn is gorgeous and really easy to work, it’s quite springy but not scratchy so i think it should work okay, should be very warm for the weight. obviously it would be ideal to have a super soft drapey yarn, but budget meant i couldn’t have my pick of the merinos and i can’t think of a better use to put this one to. it’s a good design for the weight i think and it shows off the colours beautifully (which are sooo much lovelier irl than in pics).

it took me a while to get the hang of the pattern and i unnecessarily confused myself more than once by reading the instructions for the wrong row. i’ve looked really hard at the pics and i’m pretty sure i am following the pattern correctly but it isn’t doing the batwing thing at the top. my hunch is it’s because the yarn’s so sproingy. not sure whether i should live with it or try to amend the pattern accordingly. have put in plea for help at crochetville so fingers crossed.

i just got this in the post:

i am sooo excited, even more so than about the bagful of rowan polar that arrived a couple of days ago (last chance for nimbus jacket since it’s been discontinued, also heavily discounted as it weren’t going to happen any other way…).

the yarn is just slightly greener than the pic shows, a Good Thing. it’s coopworth wool, not mega soft but springy, which i really like - i ran up a teeny test swatch and it’s sooo easy to work with. i might find it’s not drapey enough for a shawl, but will be fun to play with.

thanks phoenixfiberworks

i’ve been looking for a lacy shawl pattern, since i succumbed to the lure of etsy and bought some beautiful green/blue/yellow lace/fingering weight handspun. the wonderfully comprehensive walk through tutorial might well make this one the winner.

flip-top fingerless gloves pattern
my daughter has a pair of these that i’ve always envied, now i can make my own. i like the padded slippers too.

yarn reviews: detailed info and reviews on looooads of yarns, sort by fibre, gauge or maker.

i’ve seen plenty of crochet sushi but this is a step beyond:

she has a whole series of gory accidents too

patriciawaller.com courtesy of glimmer.

knitknit zine: would love to get my hands on a copy but reluctant to shell out $10 shipping

oooh etsy - ebay for crafters! whole place looks uncannily like flickr, especially the tags. love the funky colour selector.

another recycled yarn page with good advice on choosing jumpers, different fibres, calculating yardage and - what i was looking for - how to unkink the frizzy mass you’re left with.