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

Late to the party

 Apologies for having been absent these last couple of Woolly Wednesdays, and then late to this one.  The only excuse I have is life getting in the way!  I have a completed project to show you.  Every year, our guild have a light hearted competition to create something, and then we vote on our favourite one at the AGM.  This last year we were to create a cushion.  I found a pattern I liked over on Ravelry, ie the Aran Leaf Pillow by patons.  And thenset about creating the yarn.  I have a real trouble in creating anything much thicker than a DK weight, but tried to spin a bit thicker than normal anad made a three ply yarn, one bobbin was a blended merino I got from World of Wool in their lapwaste bags, and the other two were from the alpaca I got from our local farm shop.  I tried to have one bobbin of lighter fibres, and one of the darker fibres.  And then plyed all three bobbin together to create this wonderful yarn that I am so proud of,

 What drew me to the pattern was the design on the flap.  There were various knitting techniques I had never tried before, so I wanted to challenge myself.  I started and finished the flap on the way down to the Guild exhibition in Hampshire at the end of July 2012.  I figured that 6 or so hours on the coach with no children to distract me was the perfect time to tackle those stitches!!

Then the rest of the cushion was finished, also whilst travelling.  It was my travelling knit, as the pattern was simple and repetitive, so easily worked on when travelling as a passenger in the car, or on the train.

 I finished it off with a covered button, instead of the tassle they suggested in the pattern. 

 

Unfortunately I was unable to attend the AGM, but my cushion did!  It didn't win, I didn't expect it to, as there is so much amazing talent within the guild, but I learned a few things along the way, and created a cushion that I am very, very pleased with.



Dawns Woolly Wednesday March 2012

Hello March, hello Spring ... ah spring lambs all around too, gorgeous aren't they?

Cotswold fleece

Well February saw me spinning several things. Firstly I started spinning some of a lovely Cotswold fleece that Kelly sent me last year. The raw fleece is just lovely and has a great lustre. As I had stored it a while I do think it had compacted a little so tried a few things in the preparation of it. 

 

 Preparing the Cotswold to spin

Cotswold single (so far)

Carding was not so easy as it is quite a long staple. Spinning it was lovely, although I found it was bumping a little at the curly ends. I then tried just flick carding and combing it and this seemed better to then spin from the open locks.

I have a project in mind for the Icelandic wools I have previously spun (grey and grey/brown) and wanted to add to those the white, brown and brown/black Icelandic roving. So I have spun the 100g of white Icelandic and have started on the brown one. The project is a bag for spinning items that I hope to felt, unless I change my mind by then which isn't unheard of!

In other spinning news, firstly a confession to having added another Spinning wheel to my home. She actually came to live with us last year, bought 2nd hand from another spinner who hadn't used it in a while. She is a Wee Peggy, a lovely little wheel that I had admired for a while. Here she is next to my much loved Louet.

My other girls - Louet on the left, Wee Peggy on the right

Late last year I started trying to get used to this wheel as it is a Double Drive wheel which I had not really tried before, previously I had only used Scotch tension on the Ashford Traditional and Irish tension on the Louet. I could not get the balance quite right and it wasn't drawing the yarn onto the bobbin properly, no matter how I adjusted it. I wondered if it was just me, having heard that many people say they can't get on with DD wheels, whereas some spinners love them and can't get on with Scotch or Irish tension! So I switched it to scotch tension and got it working pretty okay, but still felt the wheel wasn't quite right.

So in February I gave the wheel some more attention - a thorough cleaning, oiled the wood and oiling the moving parts, a bit more spinning and suddenly she felt like she was singing. Leaving it on the scotch tension for a while she was spinning nicely so I thought I would switch it back to Double Drive an try again. A few adjustments and it seemed the balance was there, yarn was pulling nicely and winding onto the bobbin smoothly. I had cracked it, and I love it. I have it set at a level that works for me, having been used to the strong pull of the Louet Irish tension.

So there we are, confession time over, yes I have 3 spinning wheels here. Although one is much neglected, my first wheel so I have a sentimental attachment to it, but I think it may be time for it to go to a new home.

So having now successfully got the Wee Peggy working for me, I have spun some multicoloured roving I had and have two lovely bobbins of bright colours (you may need sunglasses for the next photo). I have decided I don't want to ply them together but will ply them with something else - I have plans to dye some wool in a contrast and ply with that, a project for the coming weeks.

bright roving (colinette)

I have moved onto spinning some more pre-dyed roving and am loving how she spins.

 

 

Latest roving spinning on the Wee Peggy

I will return to the Cotswold on the Louet when the Icelandic is spun and then a couple of other samples Kelly sent me. I washed some of my grey zwartble x fleece last week, I intend to wash more and wash some of the pure zwartble ram (darker but not black) too; oh and I washed some merino too - more on that another day. Then there's some curly longwools waiting ...

So what have you been spinning? (or knitting, felting, weaving, etc)

In Memory of a sheep legend

 I remember reading an article in something when I first joined the Guild about a sheep in New Zealand, a Merino sheep, who had evaded shearing for 6 years until in 2004 he was found in a cave. He went missing from his herd in 1998, the owners presumed he'd died.


He captured the worlds (of spinning anyway) imagination and was finally sheared live on tv which can be seen here (it's a bit long but you can skip through it, worth looking at just to see his size and how they rolled him over to be sheared!). His fleece at that time weighed 27kg! Can you just imagine that! It was sold in auctions and the money went to a kids charity.

Sadly Shrek, as he was named, died a few days ago at the grand old age of 17, a grand age for a sheep (over 90 in human years). RIP Shrek x

This travel blog photo's source is TravelPod page: Checking out the Wildlife