A Special Luxury Spin

The most sumptuous fiber I have yet owned has been calling to me ever since I purchased it from the Hilltop Cloud market stall at Unravel recently.

It is a 50% baby camel and 50% tussah silk 100g hank of pure heaven!

So despite having several WIPs on the go, I just couldn't wait any longer.

To make the most of the beautiful variance of colour and the sheen of silk running through the fiber, I've started this spinning project on my Turkish Spindle.

Being careful to wrap my singles neatly has opened a whole new world to my senses. I just adore the beautiful geometric shapes that are emerging in the process.

I'm so looking forward to seeing how these patterns develop as I build up more and more of the spun singles on the spindle.

Mothers Day Yarn Giveaway

It's Mothering Sunday today and I'm spending a lovely day with my little boy. Every day with him is special, but I must admit, I'm thoroughly enjoying having an extra special day to look forward to each year.

About a week ago I began a mothers-day-inspired handspun yarn giveaway on Instagram and Facebook for the pink and green skein pictured above. To enter, people had to write the one thing they thought of or remembered most about their Mother. Each and every entry has been special and moving in one way or another.

I thought I'd share some of these lovely entries with you ... (reproduced exactly as originally written with permission from the author):

By sayralynn578 on Instagram: "Endurance, the word that describes my mother. Diagnosed with Lupus and RA at 18, she pushed through and ran a pre-school for 25 years. Instilled the importance of education which led to me becoming a teacher. Even after becoming permanently disabled, she continue to endure and had devoted herself to my two children. She never complains how her lot, she's grateful to still be able to be in our lives."

By ghosthearts on Instagram: "The smell of lipstick always reminds me of my mum. She was a single mother with two jobs and when I smell lipstick, I remember laying in her bed sleeping and she would kiss me goodbye before leaving for either job and kiss me again when she came home. I would always be half asleep but I'd smell her lipstick and know things were ok."

By knitmesomething on Instagram: "There are many things I think of when I consider my mom, but recently I would say courage tops the list. She had a stroke a year and a half ago, but the doctors were able to save her. She has very decreased mental and physical capabilities from the lack of oxygen to her brain, but has made amazing strides toward recovery since then. She can no longer crochet so I knit for her often. She has even begun giving up cigarettes and coffee for her health. It makes me so sad to think I might have lost her that day, but grateful for her recovery and thankful that I can still speak with her whenever I want to."

By almaluz on Instagram: "My mother always taught me to give away what you love the most. If someone was to compliment her on anything ... it's always, here take it. She taught me to live simple and to give back. The more you give the more you get back in other ways :)"

By nurseknitsalot on Instagram: "Softspoken describes her the best. Always found her in the kitchen, folding laundry or up late night with Johnny Carson. Never complained and never went to the doctor. She died one April, my sister found her. When I was told, the world started spinning and I fell to my knees. That was almost 30 years ago ... I loved her dearly".

By spoospa on Instagram: "My mother has always been my 'crafty' inspiration. I grew up with her running her own crafting business and am in awe of her every day."

By Kimberley Ann Ramos-Lenzi on Facebook: "My Mom is very generous with her time, love and food."

By Maria Mavridou on Facebook: "What I admire my mother for (and wish to pass it on to my children) is her ability to offer all the time the best of herself without making a fuss about it. And by that I mean everything ... from the simple offering of the best portion on a daily basis, to far more complicated things like giving her soul ....."

By daniellenolan107 on Instagram: "My mom has always been really silly and a child at heart! Lol she use to dance all over the house and sing to us while she cleaned and she was always so sweet and kind hearted ... And she still is :)) She's great with my girls as well."

By rijelviolent on Instagram: "My mom's a breast cancer survivor and went through her major mastectomy when I was about 12. I remember being SOOOO worried about her, since I was 12 I had no idea what to expect and thought she was going to die in surgery. Immediately after her surgery, we went to her room and she looked at me and called over with her finger. When I got close enough, her raspy after surgery voice said 'Are you jealous?' And pointed at her new gigantic fake boobs. I will never forget her face smiling when I just looked appalled because that's what she was thinking about when she got out of surgery."

By jwarda25 on Instagram: "All I can say is that ... I only hope I can be like my mum was with me, with my son."

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As you can see by how candid and personal these stories are, it was incredibly hard to choose a winner of the handspun mini skein. If I could send some yarn to everyone who entered I really honestly would.

However, I'm afraid there can only be one winner of the yarn ...

So congratulations goes to KATKNITS from Instagram whose outpouring of love and remembrance for her kind and generous Mother has really touched my heart. As a big-hearted Mama myself, I hope and pray that I will be viewed as highly by my son in the years to come.

By katknits on Instagram: "I remember my moms big giant generous heart the most. And her laugh. It rang through the hills. She collected cats, or they collected her. She left this earth in '99. She was an organ donor and ended up saving the lives of 2 women and another regained her eyesight. Generous to the end. Miss her every day and night. We were great friends and did art together ... Mothers Day is a hard one."

 A portrait of Kat (taken with permission from her IG feed)

A photo of Kat as a baby with her Mother (taken with permission from her IG feed)

*******

A huge thank you to everyone who took part.

Birthday Knitting ... My Son Turns Two

My wonderful boy turned two years of age at the end of February, and it was so bittersweet. How can it be that two years have passed already? He has changed from a baby to a boy child before my eyes.

Their growth spurts seem so overnight and final. I could swear he looks a little more grown up and bigger each morning, with limbs lengthening, feet spreading out and his face gone from round and cherubic to more oval and boyish. The baby time is over.

On to the next phase ... and don't I know it. As if he knows his timing to perfection, his second birthday happened at the same time as he truly learnt the true meaning of the word 'NO'!

Still, it's wonderful seeing his character develop and his likes and dislikes take shape. I am astounded daily by this little soul. He is an inspiration and I am proud and honoured to be his Mama.

I wanted to make him something for his birthday, as I knew he would have plenty of toys and books from family and friends. In my opinion, there's nothing quite like a nice warm baby or child in hand-knitted outfits. I endeavoured to make more, but time is always my enemy.

So with the cold icy winter wind still plagueing us, I decided on the Lyalya Hoodie pattern by Natasha Schaffer on Ravelry.

This is just the sweetest little pattern that looks so toasty warm, and harder for the hat to come off (or be pulled off) as it comes right down onto the neck and shoulders.

I used James C Brett Marble Chunky yarn in MC31 colourway, and am really happy with how it turned out.

First of all I knitted the baby pattern with size 5mm needles and it came out too small for my boy.

So on my second attempt I followed the child size pattern with the same needles and it fitted him to perfection.

And the good thing is the baby hoodie will make a lovely gift for a friends (much younger) little one :)

A Mystery Spin ... My First Spinning Commission

An Instagram friend (@amberweinberg) recently contacted me to say she had a mysterious lot of fiber that she didn't know what to do with, and didn't want to spin it for herself.  She went on to ask whether I could spin it for her but this was a tricky request as it was an unknown weight of fiber of an unknown origin. Needless to say, I was intrigued and excited all at the same time. I had never been asked to do any spinning for someone else before, and I didn't know how to answer any of her questions such as how long it might take or how many balls of wool it would make.

After a few to-ing and fro-ing of emails, we decided I would give it a go without many of the decisions being made, as I would have to weigh and feel the fiber first to see what I had to work with. Amber requested that I attempt to make a sock weight yarn with the fiber, and I agreed to give it my best effort.

Within a few days I received a lovely fluffy delivery in the post. Here's the reveal photo ... seconds after opening the parcel:

It was a lovely naturally coloured ball of fiber which weighed 262 grams. I could tell it was sheep in origin from the smell, and it looked pure and not blended with another type of fiber. The staple length was longish (about  4-5") and the crimp quite relaxed. It felt and looked almost like fine hair in comparison to say merino fiber where you can't distinguish the individual fibers due to the fluffiness. This was an unknown entity to me, as I had never spun fiber like it before.

Even after a little online research, I couldn't isolate the breed of sheep this fiber was from. So I decided I would just have to wing-it!

Putting down other WIPs in eagerness to begin this new project I decided to do a test spin that evening to see how it would behave.

After posting this early progress pic on Instagram, someone suggested that the fiber might have some Angora in it. Although it looks this way, it just wasn't nearly soft enough to contain any.

Backing some of the spun fiber up to see how it would ply, I took this photo for Amber to see:

It looked like it would produce a lovely fluffy looking yarn of fairly even consistency.

Here I am, mid-draft!

Quite a few evenings later, I finally had two full and contented bobbins all ready for plying:

And here is the first of four skeins pre-bath and set.

So the yield from this interesting mystery spin was:

• 2 large skeins


• 2 small skeins


• approx. total yardage: 371 (or 339 meters)


• sock to DK weight 2-ply

I was very happy with the result, as it washed up beautifully to become even whiter and even more lofty.

What's more, Amber was delighted with her new yarn. Here's a photo of the yarn back with its rightful owner (courtesy of Amber's IG feed):

I would be grateful to hear from any spinners who recognise this fiber and can tell me the sheep breed it might come from.

All in all, a very enjoyable and satisfying spin :)

A Great Day Out: Unravel 2013

I was very fortunate yesterday as I spent a lovely day in Farnham Maltings at the Unravel 2013 Fiber Arts Festival.

What a sight for lovers of colour and texture! The organisers had done a marvelous job of decorating the whole of the building ... inside and out. The whole place was yarn bombed in one way or another. It was difficult to take it all in, and I didn't want to miss a thing.

There were even a pair of sheep in a pen near the entrance!

Anyway, I was excited in the lead up to the festival as I'd planned to meet an Instagram friend, Amber Weinberg, and go around the show with her, as well meeting up with Danielle Alinia who had a stall at the event for her A Stash Addict business.

Amber and I happened to arrive in Farnham at the same time, so after brief introductions in the freezing snowy car park, we bundled into Farnham Maltings and begun to work our way around the show. That's Amber on the left and me on the right:

The lovely Unravel 2013 mascot greeted us in the foyer.

If you've ever been to Farnham Maltings you'll know how higgeldy-piggeldy the layout is. Needless to say, Amber & I struggled to find our bearings, but we simply followed our noses around the building.

Loving the sheep theme I just had to take a photo of this lovely fellow:

Being an enthusiast of spinning, I was excited to see many people sat around with drop spindles on the go, and there was a room where you could even try spinning on a variety of wheels.

And more evidence of yarny-arty-installations everywhere!

And I loved the pretty yarn creations hanging from every available wall and ceiling space!

Doing my very best to try not to spend a ridiculous amount of money, I carefully made my way around the festival, vowing only to part with my cash if I properly fell in love with something and couldn't part with it!

My first purchase was this 100g braid of Merino fiber in colourway 'Pale Jungle' from a company called Skeins. I simply had to buy this as it features my favourite colours ... beautiful earthy greens, browns and rusts:

After a LOT of walking, and losing our bearings in the maze of rooms, we finally found Danielle of A Stash Addict's stall, and I can hands down say that there was more colour on hers than on any other. It was simply stunning.

Here we all are having a photo together (haha, look at my over the moon face):

I was so happy to see my Drop Spindle Spinning Kits for sale on Danielle's stall, I just had to take a photo to commemorate it. Here's the rainbow kit:

After chatting to the friendly couple for a lovely long time, I finally made my mind up which of her skeins of yarn I would purchase. I decided on one that I've coveted for quite some time ... The Earthy Rainbow DK Tweed. This colourway is just heavenly and coupled with the tweed effect, it looks amazing. I'll have to choose a special pattern for this one:

Here are a few of the other delights on Danielle's stall that caught my eye. First of all, here's a small sample of her braids of fiber ... a spinner or felters dream:

And then I was lured over to the display opposite Danielle's by the sumptuous fiber in batts and braids hanging from every inch the stall. It was Katie Weston of Hilltop Cloud and I was very impressed with her unique and luxurious blends. After chatting to the very knowledgeable Katie I was really inspired by her work, as she had cleverly made beautiful hand-knitted garments from her handspun yarn, using a variety of her very own blends. It was from this that she got the sale of this next beauty:

This is 50% Baby Camel and 50% Silk blend fiber in a beautiful range of purples. No kidding when I say this is the most luxuriously soft and sumptuous fiber I've ever had the pleasure to hold in my hands. But not only that, because I've seen how the finished result comes out, I know it spins up beautifully to produce a very fine yarn that looks phenomenal and feels fabulous close to the skin.

After a whole lot of chatting with store holders and squishing the vast majority of goodies on offer, Amber & I decided to go back to the beginning and make sure we had seen everything properly. I also wanted to buy a few things I'd seen at the beginning of our day.

In the first big hall we'd encountered I'd been impressed by a company called John Arbon Textiles. Amber had been too, as she'd bought a gorgeous pair of Alpaca Fair Isle socks from them. I was drawn to big floor-standing bins that contained  discounted fiber that you could buy by however many grams you liked. They were displayed so you could feel each of the fibers and the quality was very good. I ended up choosing 200g of Organic Merino in natural undyed white:

And also, I bought a bargain 200g bag of Alpaca, Merino & Silk mixed 'Broken Tops' that I thought would be interesting to have a play with:

On our last legs, after several trips around the show, Amber & I were overdue for some food and drink.

We plonked our bottoms down in true weary fashion and tucked in to some well deserved food, chatting all the while.

At 3:30pm, with many stall holders beginning to pack away, and all our energy (and money) , we decided to call it a day.

Going into the snowy outdoors was a shock after being so warm and cosy surrounded by lots of yarn, fiber and a whole lot of people. Amber & I said our goodbyes and then she departed for the train station.

Goodbye Unravel. I hope to visit you again next year ... and who knows ... maybe I'll be an exhibitor?? Fingers crossed.

A New Pattern: The Lovebird Beanie Hat

Well, here it is ... my debut into the world of knitwear design ... The Lovebird Beanie Hat. Now available to download through Ravelry.

Modelled here by my friend Claire, it is a simple fair isle pattern that knits up quickly in DK to Aran weight yarn.

If you go on to make this hat I'd love to see your creation, so please link it to the pattern listing on Ravelry.

You can purchase this pattern here:

Thank you and happy knitting :)

My Handmade Christmas 2012

I had such good intentions to cover the house with an array of wonderful handmade Christmas decorations this year ... it's not happened quite like I had in mind but I think I've done quite well considering I've been a very busy lady over the last few months. From decopatch and paper crafts to knitting and crochet I've made quite a few. And anyway, it's a start. I aim to make a few things each year until I build up a nice  stash of handmade decorations that we will all, as a family, cherish and look forward to getting out of the loft each year.

With that in mind, I'm so looking forward to getting my son involved when he's a bit older. Salt dough decorations are beautiful and fun so maybe by next year he'll be old enough to get more involved.

Here are a few pics of some of my handmade haul for 2012.

First off are these sweet little Christmas Crochet Wreaths.

 

Then a decopatch Christmas Tree and baubles ...

And some German Paper Stars ...

AND LAST BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST ...

An incredibly gorgeous painting done (with help) by my little baby boy ...

Christmassy Pom-Pom Garland

Here's a fun tutorial for a Christmassy Pom-Pom Garland that's family friendly and endlessly customisable.

I'm going to be putting my one on the tree, but it would also look good as a garland for the mantelpiece or strung across the ceiling (in between the mistletoe ;)

I've used my 100% acrylic Stylecraft Special DK yarn stash to make these pom-poms in a simple red and white colour-way, but you can use any yarn and colour that takes your fancy.

So I'm using this semi-unorthodox method of pom-pom making in a bid to save time (but if you prefer the good old 'cardboard circle' style of doing them one at a time or you have a pom-pom maker then please continue and make your pom-poms another way).

On to the method ...

I've wrapped the yarn fifty times around the back of my kitchen chair (25 wraps of the red and 25 of the white in this example). If you're using a chunkier yarn you may want to do less wraps, and a slimmer yarn more.

Carefully take one side of the yarn off the chair back and begin to tie it off in sections leaving about 2" between each one. Make sure you pull the cotton very tightly and secure with a double knot. Two pairs of hands are a real advantage here!

Keep going until your length of yarn looks secured at even intervals all the way along.

Being really careful not to cut the strings of cotton you tied the pom-poms with, carefully cut in the middle of the segments in between each tie.

You now have a lovely little pile of pom-poms, but they're not quite done yet.

Squash each pom-pom between forefinger and thumb and with a pair of scissors, trim all the way around until you are happy with its size, shape and density. Keep moving the pom-pom about in your fingers to check for stray lengths of yarn that you may have missed.

So here's my pile of lovely fluffy pom-poms in a variety of solid red, solid white and variegated colours. I decided to stop when I'd made twenty but you can make as many or few as you like. Mine are each about 1" in diameter.

After a well deserved cup of tea it was time for the stringing ... I've used some jute twine for mine, but some ribbon or any fancy string would look great.

Cutting a length of 200" for my garland I've spaced the pom-poms about 10" apart. I now have a lovely christmassy yarny pom-pom garland for my tree, but for now a photo of the finished item on my kitchen floor will have to do (because, erm, we don't have our Christmas tree yet ... blush).

Can't wait to see it on the tree with my other handmade decorations.

n.b. Pom-poms are great fun for all the family but if you are making this garland with younger family members, please remember to supervise the use of scissors and bear in mind that the finished item could be a hazard in little hands. Thank you.

Purple Spindle-Spun Handspun Yarn FO

What a labour of love this has been ... several months of on-and-off drop spindle spinning has culminated in one very happy camper indeed ... my best (to-date) and all-time favourite handspun skein.

So here's the time line in photos :) ... First off, a gratuitous pic of the day the fiber arrived. 100g of super washed Blue Faced Leicester in the most beautiful array of purples and pinks.

The spinning begins ...

Filling the spindle up ...

The first half finished ...

The second half on the spindle ...

Caked and ready to ply ...

Plying progress ...

Plying finished and on the niddy-noddy ...

And finally the TA-DAH moment ...

THE SPEC ...

Length: 330 yards

Weight: 2-ply lace to sock weight

And now to decide what to make with it ... Off I pop to Ravelry then :)