Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Cast-ons with multi yarns

Going through my stash of hand-spun yarns.
Several dyed and undyed hanks and balls in several places.
Plan is to bring them all together and see what they "want to be".

They are selected to participate in a striped floor mat:



Some for fingerless mitts:





This is a small amount (about 57 gas) of lumpy-bumpy yarn I spun using a silver thread plied with a blend of my sheep wall and some Angora rabbit fibre. It feels pretty nice but it is quite thin so I tested several stitch types to get one that would add bulk to the fabric and went for a slip-stitch pattern I found (above) in an old magazine.
There is not enough for two full mitts so the ribs, top and bottom, will be knit from some another remnant of arty-type wool which is hanging around looking for a home.

Like so much else, here TO BE CONTINUED

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Cat's Paw lace knit

Using a lace-weight single  I spun from one of my sheep fleece, I cast on to knit the Cats Paw pattern.
This is a traditional Shetland knitting pattern which is fairly easy to master.




After soaking, I pinned it out to block dry it.




As can be seen, it is not very big - 30 cm wide by 78 cm long. 

I've not decided which of three possible uses to put it to: a neck warmer, a table runner, both of which need a lining or to mount it as a wall hanging.

Thursday, October 18, 2018

Christmassy little tote bag



Used up several Christmassy coloured remenants of my hand-spun and hand-dyed yards - I hate to throw them out even if there is not enough for a hat or mat (my usual knitted items).

For the shoulder strap, I warped the rigid heddle,10 dent, with singles - knowing I would not be to use the heddle to beat them and they would fray. Used a little plastic ruler to press the wefts down. Two of the warps did fall apart but I have no problem fixing that with another length of yearn. The hardest part was actually passing the weft as that is a very thin yarn, so thin I had to use it doubled and pass it twice for each pick, wrapping it around the outer warp yarn before returning. This worked OK and I like the resulting strap - I like these straps so much that I wish I had an excuse to make more.




I got a remnant of silky curtain material from "Material World" in Athlone, The assistant there was very good and didn't make me feel like a bigger when I bought just 2 Euros work of remnant instead of a large order of her beautiful materials.

The knitting pattern was fairly easy, with slip-stitch rather than fair isle and is based on XXXXXXXX' pattern (I'll add the right name later).







Bag is 8"deep, 11.5" wide and hangs down about 21" shoulder to hip

Monday, October 8, 2018

Long narrow stripy yarn-memory scarf

I' loath to discard the small amounts of hand-spun and hand-dyed yarns I have left over from various projects.
SO, I knit them into long, long narrow stripy scarves such as this one below, which is 7ft 7 inches/231 cm long and only 3 - 4 inches/7.5 - 10 cm wide.
Worn doubled, it is so warm and neat and the different bars on it remind me of the fibres I spun e.f. Wensleydale sheep fleece, grey and white alpaca, my own buxom wellies and the soft light orange-brown doggydown from my red Border Collie.



Tuesday, September 11, 2018

HiggeldyPiggeldy Hothead Hat


From my multicolour yarn, I've made an HiggeldyPiggeldy Hothead hat.

I quite like how it came out - squishy, warm and textured.

Details of the simple pattern below.



PATTERN

HiggeldyPiggeldy Hothead Hat

Yarn weighed 107 grams (3.7oz)  and the hat weighed 86 grams (3 oz), leaving enough for a small bobble if required
Yarn weight was 8 wraps per inch, 

Needles: 5 mm circular, 20 inches long or more

Yarn weight: Aran weight, 8 wraps / inch or per 2.54 cm

KNITTING

Cast On: 80 stitches leaving a 4 inch tail

Using 2 X 2 rib (k2, P2) repeat, work 2 rows flat
3rd row, join in the round and continue k2, p2 rib until the work measures
8 - 8.5 inches.

Begin decrease rows for the crown:
  1. (K2 p2 together) repeat to the end
  2. (k2 p1) repeat to the end
  3. (k2 together, p1) repeat to the end
  4. (k1 p1) repeat to end
  5. (k2 together, p2 together) repeat to the end
  6. (k1 p1) repeat to the end
  7. (k2 together p2 together) repeat to the end

10 stitches remain
Break threat, leaving a tail.
Thread yarn on big-eyed needle and pass through the stitches and pull to close the gap
fasten off, weave in the ends and seam firs 2 rows using the needle and the cast-on tail.

This is a stretchy hat which should fit a good range of head sizes and the brim can be folded up to suit the wearer.

Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Oval Mat - "Carnival" - finished

Finished this garter stitch oval mat.
It is very "primary colours" and reminds me of Carnivals and clowns.
It measures 80 cm on the longer side, from tip to tip and 63 cm on the narrower side.
It weighs 562 grams.
It is very hand-spun looking - which is appropriate as it IS hand-spun and hand-dyed too.






 Quite like this one :0.


Monday, August 27, 2018

Multicolor batt

I planned to visit Moat agricultural show August to spin along with another sinner, Grainne, as an exhibit there.
I decided to have some fun with a multi-coloured batt to spin on my Traveler wheel so I took out some of the ends of coloured fibre I had stashed for some time.

The plan is to from-card the misty grey stiff with smaller amounts of other colours and spin one spool then to spin longer stretches of solid colours and ply the two together (60 gas on each spool).

I did get the multi-colour batt spun at the show and half of the solid ones. I'll continue on to the plying stage then add some more photos.


COLORS TO MIX WITH THE MISTY GREY FIBERS


AFTER THE FIRST PASS ON THE DRUM


AFTER TH SECOND PASS ON THE DRUM
 I didn't want more passes as the colours might mix and I would have mud colour