Welcome to our Woolly Wednesday gathering for December, whether you are a regular or a new visitor - come and share with us all what you have been doing with wool or fibres in the last month. All crafts and inspiration welcome. A busy month with Yule, Christmas and other Seasonal celebrations so we look forward to seeing what you have been up to or your plans.
Woolly Wednesday falls on the first Wednesday of every month. Think of it as a creative gathering, or a virtual guild meeting. Bring along any fibre-related project, whatever it may be. If you are starting out in fibre arts, share what you are interested in pursuing. Let's show each other our projects, share any tips, tutorials, ask questions, seek advice. Add your post to the Linky below and we can visit one another and share, support, encourage, be inspired!.
Please feel free to add the button to your blog's sidebar with a link to Spinspiration, a lovely way for us all to link together. Just copy the image to your desktop and then in your blog design - add a gadget, add picture - upload the picture and then add the url (http://spinwheelspin.blogspot.com/) and the image will link to here. Join us with the linky below, link to a recent blog post of your woolly adventures in the last month or to a post in the month ahead, we look forward to seeing you, no time limits just join us when you can.
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it, and Seasons blessings to those who celebrate the season in other ways. See you in 2013!
Wednesday, 5 December 2012
Lydia's December Woolly Wednesday
I am posting appallingly late in the day but it is still just about Wednesday. I haven't had a chance to spin anything this month, which is disappointing, especially as my Lendrum is sat there looking mournfully at me. But I have been knitting, which is a miracle for me because I really struggle with knitting. Spinning is so much easier, you don't have to remember a complicated pattern and the fibre only goes in one direction.
I started the Fatigue Cap a while ago but it turned out to be way too big so I frogged it and then could not work out the maths at all. You would think it would be simple if you know the number of stitches to the inch and the number of inches around the person's head. But every time I tried to work out how many stitches I needed to cast on I got a different answer.
I have at last solved the maths problem and the hat is the right size. The next issue is I am running out of yarn. The Fatigue Cap is a very simple pattern, it is a straight tube with no shaping but the pattern says make the tube 36 inches long. This seems extremely long to me and I'm really not sure how the hat is meant to be worn, it must end up double thickness but that may be uncomfortably hot. As I am running out of yarn I have decided to give up on the pattern altogether and just shape the top of the hat following a different pattern.
This is only my second project using circular needles and I must say I love them. I find going round in circles strangely soothing. I think I may just have to make another hat. This time I'd like to use my own handspun, so I'm bound to have more issues with maths. By the time I've finished pulling out my hair trying to work out how many stitches to cast on I will need a hat to cover my baldness.
I started the Fatigue Cap a while ago but it turned out to be way too big so I frogged it and then could not work out the maths at all. You would think it would be simple if you know the number of stitches to the inch and the number of inches around the person's head. But every time I tried to work out how many stitches I needed to cast on I got a different answer.
I have at last solved the maths problem and the hat is the right size. The next issue is I am running out of yarn. The Fatigue Cap is a very simple pattern, it is a straight tube with no shaping but the pattern says make the tube 36 inches long. This seems extremely long to me and I'm really not sure how the hat is meant to be worn, it must end up double thickness but that may be uncomfortably hot. As I am running out of yarn I have decided to give up on the pattern altogether and just shape the top of the hat following a different pattern.
This is only my second project using circular needles and I must say I love them. I find going round in circles strangely soothing. I think I may just have to make another hat. This time I'd like to use my own handspun, so I'm bound to have more issues with maths. By the time I've finished pulling out my hair trying to work out how many stitches to cast on I will need a hat to cover my baldness.
Dawns December woolly days ...
Busy times!
I have been spending quite a bit of my time during the last month spinning and knitting, lots of different projects, some small, some bigger, some gifts, some just for fun. Lots of other things keeping me busy too with school and Christmas not far away, but enjoying cosy nights with wool in one way or another.
My autumn spinning has been completed, plied as a 2 ply to get a decent yardage - approximately 340 metres of DK weight yarn destined to be a shawlette for me to wear as a scarf. I was intending to have cast it on by now but have been concentrating on other knitting I wanted to do first. Hope to share a picture of the finished item in the new year, here is the yarn.
I am now spinning some fibre from my stash which is drum carder blended alpaca, wool and a little bamboo. Looking good so far with one bobbin full and another hot on its heels.
In knitting I have been quite productive. I have knitted some socks for my daughter out of some of my handspun from 2009! A little lumpy and bumpy but lovely and soft and she helped my dye this yarn in black beans. I didn't get the mordant right so a lot of the colour ran out, but it's a lovely silvery light blue.
Determined to work my way through my handspun stash, I have knitted several small projects to use up all those oddments. So I have knitted a tablet cover, a kindle cover, another kindle cover (different sized kindle!), a mobile phone cover and a small bag to felt.
Not from handspun but I have knitted some booties for a relatives baby due in 2013. I will be knitting more and some other pieces for them in the new year.
Back to handspun yarn, this Dorset Horn from my stash has been wound into yarn cakes ready to knit the next pair of socks.
Other crafty projects in the making, but I can't share them here just yet.
Looking forward to seeing what everyone else is doing.
Thank you all for sharing this space over the year. I leave you all with a wish for a wonderful festive season however you celebrate it, and I look forward to sitting and chatting with you in 2013.
Merry Christmas, Yule blessings ...
I have been spending quite a bit of my time during the last month spinning and knitting, lots of different projects, some small, some bigger, some gifts, some just for fun. Lots of other things keeping me busy too with school and Christmas not far away, but enjoying cosy nights with wool in one way or another.
My autumn spinning has been completed, plied as a 2 ply to get a decent yardage - approximately 340 metres of DK weight yarn destined to be a shawlette for me to wear as a scarf. I was intending to have cast it on by now but have been concentrating on other knitting I wanted to do first. Hope to share a picture of the finished item in the new year, here is the yarn.
I am now spinning some fibre from my stash which is drum carder blended alpaca, wool and a little bamboo. Looking good so far with one bobbin full and another hot on its heels.
2nd bobbin and a sample of the yarn plied
In knitting I have been quite productive. I have knitted some socks for my daughter out of some of my handspun from 2009! A little lumpy and bumpy but lovely and soft and she helped my dye this yarn in black beans. I didn't get the mordant right so a lot of the colour ran out, but it's a lovely silvery light blue.
Handspun, hand-dyed local fleece socks hand-knitted
Determined to work my way through my handspun stash, I have knitted several small projects to use up all those oddments. So I have knitted a tablet cover, a kindle cover, another kindle cover (different sized kindle!), a mobile phone cover and a small bag to felt.
Various covers knitted in Double Knitting style so completely seamless
Not from handspun but I have knitted some booties for a relatives baby due in 2013. I will be knitting more and some other pieces for them in the new year.
Newborn booties
Back to handspun yarn, this Dorset Horn from my stash has been wound into yarn cakes ready to knit the next pair of socks.
Yarn ready for socks
Other crafty projects in the making, but I can't share them here just yet.
Looking forward to seeing what everyone else is doing.
Thank you all for sharing this space over the year. I leave you all with a wish for a wonderful festive season however you celebrate it, and I look forward to sitting and chatting with you in 2013.
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