There will be ripping

It was time for me to wake up and smell the coffee. The Fiddlehead mitten is too big for my hands. At first I just assumed it would be alright, because lining will be added. But come on there’s only so much a thin fabric can do.

I did do a swatch and I tried to spin accordingly but it is very difficult. So, I’ve spun some more and thinner, and I’ve started on the second mitten. This one is slightly smaller, and so far it matches the numbers in the pattern. However, it would be a shame if I couldn’t use the yarn I made for the first mitten. I’m gonna try and knit it again on smaller needles. Hopefully the fabric won’t feel like armour. Ripping will commence shortly.

Progress on the Fiddleheads

I’m knitting on the first mitten as soon as the yarn dries. The pattern is great; I really like it. It’s been quite difficult to spin consistently, despite having made a sample card. The first batch of main and contrasting colours are thicker than what was the goal and a bit thick and thin. However, since this is  my first time spinning for a particular project it’s coming along quite nicely and I’ll love the mittens mo matter what.

The last yarn made is actually quite consistent and I think rather close to the sample I made earlier this summer. So if I can make the rest of the yarn like this the second mitten will be perfect.

FO for a cold neck

I brought my Foaming sea project with me on our vacation. There’s been a few trials but none very successful. But, on the last trial I had made a rectangle in garter stitch and I just tried it around my neck and it sorta’ worked. So I twisted one end and did a three needle bind off. This is what the result looks like.

Foaming Sea cowl

Pattern: Improvised

Yarn: My own handspun Foaming sea merino-silk from Fleece artist.

Needles: 12 mm

Details: Provisional cast on. Garter stitch rectangle. Twist one end 180 degrees. Cast off using the tree needle bind off.

Fiddlehead spinning

During my vacation I started to sample the fibres for the Fiddlehead mittens. It was lovely to spin the BFL/silk. It ran smoothly and rather OK when it comes to consistency. I made a sample card with unwashed singles and plied yarn to have as a reference when spinning the yarn for the project. The first attempt was terribly wrong. I tried to make an under-spun single and over-spun ply. But it was too thick and very airy. Sample two on the other hand had the correct wpi (more or less). But when swatching it just didn’t add up to the correct gauge. Changing needles didn’t help. So I looked at the pattern and realised the gauge was for stranded knitting….. Some spinning later and I had two sample yarns; the BFL/silk and coloured merino.

This time the swatch had the correct gauge. Both in row and stitch count. As can be seen in the picture I had some difficulties spinning the merino consistently. Even though I feel I spun them the same way the end result differs. I haven’t spun so many different fibres, but it is really interesting to feel and see the difference between them.

There are about 25 m merino and 32 m of BFL/silk drying in the bathroom. I can’t wait to start to cast on for the mittens, even though it is still summer.

Silk hankie

I was too curious to keep my hands off the silk I got earlier this week. So I drafted and spun one very thin square of silk. The drafting seems to be everything when spinning silk hankies. There were some thicker spots that I tried to correct while spinning which was quite difficult. Not at all like spinning wool (at least not the ones I’ve tried). But it’s so easy. Just draft to desired thickness and add twist with the spindle. Here’s a Knitty article on how to spin silk hankies.

This single square of silk made a 3.5 m thick and thin single strand. I’ve knit a small sample. Now I just have to decide what I want too make with the silk. Then decide to either dye before spinning, spin and dye the yarn, dye the knitted thingy or keep it white…..so many choices.

The needle seen in the picture is a 3.5 mm Harmony wood options. I got myself a kit a few weeks ago. They are very lovely but the join between the wood and metal could be a little more smoother. The stitches get caught here probably because I knit rather tight. Still very nice needles.

Fibre club spinning

The fibre for June are all spun up. It’s from Spinspiration. I’ve signed up for 3 months and the theme will be feelings. The feeling for June is happy.

Fibre: 100g Corriedale

Colourway: Happy

Supplier: Spinspiration

Spindle: 1.1 oz Kundert

Type: 1-ply

Length: 305m

Spinning style: semi-worsted

Verdict: It’s spun with a little too much twist. It kinks up in quite a few place because I couldn’t get weigh it down properly during drying. But I did some test knitting and I think it will work anyway.

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Home sweet home!

Five Fridays in a row abroad! It was great both in California and in France but it sure is nice being home again. There’s not much to show on the knitting front. I have been knitting but since I’ve had startitis there’s been knitting on too many fronts to have any progress to show. So, I’ve decided to try and only knit on things I’ve already started. Shouldn’t be a problem….there’s plenty to choose from.

Alongside the startitis I’ve also been very materialistic as of late. Seen in the picture below is my new spindle. It’s a Kundert spindle bought from Spinspiration, together with some wool (don’t remember what it is …). I’ve also joined the fiber club for June to August. Can’t wait to get the fibers!

Tomorrow is my grandmother’s 80th birthday. I made her a necklace. It’s Manganum from Panduro. I also bought an embossing ink pad and some stamps with flowers to make a card. The card is made with chalks on the motif stamped with the embossing ink.

Winter spinning

Spring went away and we have quite a bit of snow for being this town. It’s very beautiful but it will soon melt away.

There’s not been much knitting during Easter holiday but I’ve been spinning a bit. First weekend in April there will be a new knitting festival (Stickfest i väst) and I will attend another spinning workshop. This time we will try some wool preparation and some different spindles. Therefore I’ve practiced drop spindling and it’s going quite alright. I’ve spun a few grams of wool with some silk-fibers mixed in (pink). A while back I did the fiber quiz and it turns out that I’m Camel so I’ve also started spinning up some camel fiber. The fibers are a bit tangled but it’s still OK to spin. It produces a very springy single.

The mayhem has started

Our bathroom and kitchen are beeing renovated and the entire plumbing system in our house is beeing replaced. So far it’s been okay. The kitchen is still usable. After we remove all concrete parts and dust covering all beenchtops. I have still had some time to knit a bit.

A week ago I plied the foaming sea merinosilk. It’s navajo plied and ended up around 8 wpi. At just over 50 m there aren’t so much to work with. But it’s soft and quite even. Some part are a bit overtwisted like rope.

I had wound up the single on a 9 mm knitting neddle, which I placed in a Branäs basket from IKEA. This worked really well as a lazy kate. Made in less than a minute. Only had to place the contents on the sofa.

Navajo plied mini skein

I want to Navajo ply my foaming sea singles to keep the color changes more distinct. So yesterday I tried this technique on a single I had lying around. I’m not sure what type of wool it is, it’s one of the wools I got during my spinning course. It’s sort of plum coloured. About 5-10 g at 15 wpi.

It was difficult to get the plying consistent. The first part of each loop looked great but the second part, where you pull through the new loop, looked horrible. The loop bulged out and didn’t stick together. Fortunatley after washing and beating it up in the bathtub, letting it dry with a heavy weight it actually turned out alright. So hopefully my foaming sea yarn will be OK.