Kelly's December Woolly Wednesday

I am late posting this month but better late than never!

 I have done some spinning this past month though.  I find even if I do just 20 minutes here and there it keeps me spinning for the therapeutic, quiet time!  I finished off all the European wool and have now turned my attentions to spinning up two fleeces of beautiful creamy white organic Lleyn wool.  This is a Welsh breed and is a fine dense medium length wool.  I started this a few months back and then abandoned it in favour of the European wools.  I have decided to stick to spinning the Lleyn until I have spun up the whole two fleeces.  It really is a joy to spin this wool.  I have a jumbo flyer for my spinning wheel so I've decided to change to that and keep at it.  I wonder how many skeins I will manage?  Once all done, I hope to dye it up using Kool-Aid in a variety of colours in the spring.  So that is my current spinning project.

Here is a sweet pebble vest I knitted for my littlest boy using my handspun fawn alpaca.  It feels so soft and snuggly.  I like the nice, rustic look!

Using mostly my handspun, I have completed the ox and the sheep for the knitted nativity scene I am knitting.

More pebble vests for my new little niece born at the end of November.

And just for fun, my boys wanted me to buy this huge big ball of part wool/part acrylic yarn.  They want to see just how many things can be knitted using this ball.  First up, Noah wants me to knit him a pebble vest since I have been knitting quite a few recently and he would like one too.  So that is what is on the needles to being with.  Wish me luck with that red ball!  I could be at it for some time!

To end with, here is a happy picture of sheep in the snow in the beautiful Peak District.  I loved seeing beautiful white sheep on a vast snowy landscape.  First snow we have seen this winter!
Wishing you all a very happy, memorable Christmas season.

December 2011 - Woolly Wednesday

Welcome to the December Woolly Wednesday gathering! So what have you been up to this month? Maybe something festive? Come join us with any spinning, knitting, weaving, felting ...

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 near future, we look forward to seeing you ...

Merry Christmas, Happy Yule, Blessings for the Winter Season to all.

Dawns Woolly Wednesday for December 2011

Hello December. No spinning! Forgive me spinning wheel(s) for I have neglected you this month (again!), but I promise that you and I will be reacquainted after the festive period, if not before.

In light of there being no spinning this month, I will share what I have been doing with wool this month. I have been doing a lot of felting - items for ourselves, gifts for others and a few additions to my etsy shop. I made this Father Christmas for our home, I think his hat is a little over-sized but we like him, I made another for the shop but with a better sized hat. I have another of these in the making with legs this time but he has no beard or hat yet!

Needle Felted Father Christmas

 

in need of a hat and beard!

In other felting I have made an item for a gift swap amongst a few friends, I'm pretty sure the recipient doesn't browse this blog so I will share a couple of pictures here. It's a felt journal using a lovely art sketchbook as the book being covered. I had lots of fun with this and plan to make more soon.

 Felt journal cover

Moving onto knitting, there are (as always) more than one project on the go. Some started long ago and really left for too long, now I need to get on with them as they are gifts for Christmas. (note to self: stop getting distracted by other projects!).

I have this little project on the go and coming together now in making up the items for my daughter for Christmas ... maybe I'll reveal the finished result at Christmas! Any guesses? Answers on a postcard please ...

mystery project 1

Another project for another member of the family, although no doubt my daughter will acquire these one day, and yes you've guessed I'm not saying what this is either! Please no guesses as the recipient may read the blog and comments ;-).

mystery project 2

There is still the handspun handknit socks for the husband (he knows about these!), it really is time to turn those heels. Hoping these will be finished soon.

And another one, although not a Christmas gift, but a winter hat/scarf combo for my daughter and as it is getting colder now I really should get on and finish this ... nearly there.

 Hat/Scarf combo for Imogen

There are other things I've so nearly started recently, only to shout STOP at myself, not until the other things are finished. I've still to finish some felting gifts too and there isn't long left until Christmas. Am I the only one who can't stick to one thing at a time? Are you disciplined at finishing items? If so, how do you do it?

Merry Christmas to all, or seasons blessings if you celebrate the season or Yule rather than Christmas. I've enjoyed this space this year and look forward to sharing it with you all in 2012!

See you in the New Year!

November Woolly Wednesday - Dawn ... eventually!

Sorry for being so late this month, busy old time here and not a lot of spinning to share anyway. I have however been doing a lot of felting which I have blogged about on my blog Raising Seedlings. Other than that it has been getting my woven squares ready for the Guild challenge for our meeting this weekend.

So those weaving squares I have been making on and off this year were to

a) use up odd bits of spun wool, small balls that wouldn't make up much else; and

b) to make a cushion for the Guild challenge.

It's the Guild meeting this weekend and the November one always includes the revealing of members' Guild challenge projects which this year was to make a cushion for the seats to make sitting at meetings a little more comfortable.

 This week I gathered them all up and realised I needed another couple in white so quickly made them on Sunday. I have now sewn them all up - using white breed squares on one side and a mix of colours on the other side. I then looked at it and thought it would look nice with a border so quickly started knitting that up to sew in between the layers. Here are the squares all sewn up -

 

Squares sewn together

Greys/White mixed squares side

So here it is finished with the border, I have used Dorset Horn, Hampshire Down, Portland, Jacobs, Zwartble/Suffolk cross and a little Shetland.

 

Greys and mixed colours side above

White square side below - 2 shades of white from different sheep breeds

Sheep to finished product - all fleece prepared from raw fleece from the sheep, spun, plied, washed, woven and a little knitting and here is my finished cushion to make those hard seats more comfortable to sit on.

I am really pleased with the result, enjoyed making this and it has inspired me to make a blanket out of more squares - I'm going to do it as a kind of fibre samples blanket - every time I spin something different I shall weave a square to add to the blanket. I have a plan to spin as many breeds as possible in all their glorious natural colours over time.

So a challenge finished for the Guild challenge of 2011, and a new challenge for me which I shall start and blog about in January 2012.

Woolly Wednesday - November 2011

Welcome to the November Woolly Wednesday gathering! So what have you been up to this month? What plans do yo have soon especially with the festive season just around the corner? Come join us ...

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 near future, we look forward to seeing you ...

Kelly's November Woolly Wednesday - stash building

Some of what I have spun recently.  I am working through my stash of various mostly European wool.

The lighter brown, coarser ball at the bottom is Russian Karakul.  The darker brown, softer at the top is Portuguese Merino.

I am halfway through spinning up some New Zealand merino and then I will move on to the German mountain sheep wool.

After that I have one more lot of French country sheep wool and then I am done with adding these wonderful wools to my stash.  All beautiful shades of browns, blacks, greys and whites.

Here's a picture of my mostly European wool stash so far.

Please do link up with any fibre related crafting or just pop in to say hello and visit the links.  We leave the link up for quite a while so no hurry!

Free ebook Spinning Rare Sheep Breeds and other fibres

Another free e-book easily downloaded from Spinning Daily - just need to register your email address with them if you haven't already.

A Guide to Spinning Wool: Learn How to Spin Wool from Rare Sheep Breeds and Other Wool Fibers

ETA- having now opened the file it covers these breeds - 

Border Leicester (and a Christmas stocking pattern)

Wensleydale Longwool (and a scarf pattern)

American Jacob (and a pattern for some crocheted slippers)

It's Woolly Wednesday for November tomorrow, why not join us with a project you have been up to recently with your wool or fibres.