Dawns Woolly Wednesday - March

Sorry for late writing and linking, I actually wrote all this last night and only needed to add the photos but didn't get a chance and have been busy elsewhere today.

March already ... where does the time go?

Still spinning away the days when I can, and knitting too. Now this is not an easy post to write to day as some projects are *secret* and I need to make sure I don't show too much of them online in case the recipient sees it - they don't now things are for them so until they are gifted they need to remain un-shared online. So apologies for some lack of detail or photos.

What can I share?
Well I spun a 2ply Merino from raw fleece all the way from Queensland, Australia. Ah, woolly gifts are the best! This was quite short so spun semi-woollen/semi-worsted (work that out if you can!). Washed and carded into lovely fluffy rolags. There were some short bits in this which I tried to pick out the worst but grew to live with some of them. Awaiting final wash and measurement. Will possible dye this I think. These are the rolags but I haven't photographed the yarn yet so will add this another time.

Merino rolags

I did a little dyeing recently and produced this ...

 From the dyepot to drying

Which is now all spun up, some has been blended with to create a few shades. More on this yarn another time!

Finished yarn ready to knit

Knitting a tunic for my daughter with handspun from last year, slow progress - just keep leaving this to do other things but one day I'll just pick it up and knit, knit, knit.

My Monet yarn is wound into yarn cakes now and ready to become a knitted and felted bag.

I'm still also knitting scrappy using up odd-balls cushion covers, long term project, you'll see these throughout the year. Not handspun so far but I can see some handspun coming into some of these cushion covers in the planning.

What else? Ah yes, I've finally succumbed to the Sheep Heid pattern, having seen some lovely examples recently on ravelry, and a flock of them knitted by a friend at the guild. Another friend at the guild bought some fibres to spin for this (edited to add she's finished hers now too!) and in chatting with her about it I remembered some Icelandic yarns I spun last year - there are 5 shades there already - approx 4ply so perfect. They are spun and set as singles so not sure if that will create any issues with stitches leaning but they are not high spun singles so I'm going to knit it and see how it goes.

I have therefore spun 4 other yarns in different shades to complete the set. Wow was this a test - making sure there was enough colour variation to see the different sections, and working out replacement shades for those in the pattern, it made my head hurt! I will add a picture later (sorry not prepared was I?!).

I think that's it for now, more spinning planned to work through the fibre stash. Looking forward to warmer drier days to get some fleece washed. Another long term project in the planning for the Guild challenge for 2013 - 'The Second Time Around' Guild Challenge' -  'upcycle', 'revamp' or 'reinvent' to breath new life into something. So I have a plan!

Look forward to seeing what everyone else is up to x

Lydia's Woolly Wednesday - March

The first Wednesday of the month soon comes round. I'm glad to see there are definite signs of Spring after a miserable Winter, the poor sheep have had so much mud and wet wet to put up with. My current spinning project is something a bit different. When I bought my Lendrum I treated myself to some ready prepared fibre so I could get straight on with spinning. I bought a blend of baby camel fibre and silk:

The fibre is so soft and the colours are spinning up into an oatmeal effect. If you've never encountered camel fibre before it is quite like alpaca - not surprisingly as alpacas are camelids. This baby camel is extremely soft, fine and on the short side.

It is taking quite a long time to spin this blend. Partly because I am spinning finer than usual and partly because it is a fiddly blend to manage. The camel fibre separates from the silk so you end up with a mostly silk yarn and a heap of camel fluff in your lap if you don't pay attention. I'm having to keep working the camel fibre in with the silk as I go. However I love the results:

Have you ever spun this blend or worked with camel fibre? How did you get on?

Woolly Wednesday March 2013

Welcome to our Woolly Wednesday gathering for March, 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, or plans for the month(s) ahead. All crafts and inspiration welcome. So what are you up to as Spring approaches?

 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.