… well, almost!

I noticed some Sirdar Denim Chunky in Atlantic Blue at my local hobby store when I was there looking for something else. I needed a hat to go with a new jacket, and I knew that colourway would be perfect, so I bought a ball. I was dithering about which pattern to use when a friend (thanks, D!) reminded me of the Quaker Ribbed Bottom Hat. I had to adapt it slightly for the thicker yarn.

Yes, I know it looks like a tea cosy or a loo roll cover, but it really does look much better when being worn. I couldn’t take a picture of it on my own head, though, and I wanted to get the blog entry done before I forgot, so this one will have to do.

I’ve been working on a gift for a friend. In case she looks at my blog before she receives the gift, I’m putting the details and pictures in the extended entry. If you think it might be for you, don’t click!!!

[... and for anyone reading this from the archives, when they are filed the main and extended entries are combined into a single entry, so you'll see it all without clicking anything.]
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“… to finally update my blog again?” I asked myself. Since I couldn’t come up with a good answer, here I am again.

A goup of friends who meet regularly on AIM arranged a Secret Santa swap last year. an d we had so much fun we did it again this year. From my Santa, I received silk top, cashmere top, handspun yarn (lovely soft Romney/Corrie cross) and a handknit scarf:

The scarf is rather crumpled from its journey, so it would look better if I dampened it and smoothed it out, but these pictures give you the general idea. I don’t have any pictures of the yarn as the camera’s memory card was full by then.

In case you are wondering what handmade item(s) I sent my Secret Santa victim, I have to confess that although I did get her other gifts to her on time, the handmade one is still not finished. I’ll post pictures once she receives it. It is going slowly as I’m also trying to finish part of my mother’s gift. I got the first attempt done her in time for her to try it on on Christmas Day, but it was too loose, so I had to rip it. The second attempt fitted, but I still need to make it a partner:

To quote Rolf Harris, “can you see what it is yet?”

To help you, I’ll tell you that the bottom edge is closed, and the top right diagonal edge is open.

The lower part is 2×2 rib and the upper part is garter stitch.

The whole thing is about 5″ from the top ‘point’ to the base.
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I mentioned in the May 24th entry that I had hoped to use that yarn for the Mulitcoloured Sockies in Socks, Socks, Socks but the colour spacing was too long. Instead, I spun up some undyed superwash merino top and handpainted it, and here are the Sockies I eventually made:

After many tries, we still haven’t managed to get the colours to show correctly. The actual sockies are darker, more saturated colours, but this picture does give some idea of the effect. I wanted the ‘dashes’ of each colour, just 4 or 5 stitches, and no pooling and that is what I got.

These sockies are fun to knit. I have a lot of the yarn left over, but not quite enough for another pair. I’m going to spin and dye a bit more yarn, maybe solid dye it in a colour from the yarn, then use it to knit parts of the sock – maybe just for the soles and cuffs and to make the cord.

I also want to spin some sock yarn for myself (maybe BFL/silk or BFL/nylon) and dye it in the same way and the same colours – watch this space but don’t hold your breath. :-)

One of my guilds, Kennet Valley, has been meeting in a church hall for many years. As a gesture of thanks, it was decided to make a tapestry for the church using as many of our crafts as possible. It took us a few years, but it was finally hung in the church last month.

The main part of the tapestry is woven from Cotswold and other long wools spun by guild members (including me *grin*). The cross was inkle woven, the dove and the crown are bobbin lace (I’m not sure whether they were made with handspun thread) and so on.

The only fibre-related present I got this birthday is a Bosworth Moosie, but I’m not complaining as if I’m going to get only one, a Moosie is a good choice!

Mine is 28g (1 oz) and has a Cochin rosewood shaft. It isn’t easy to get pictures that show the markings well. Click on the side views for larger pictures.

Most of my other presents were paperback novels, plus one DVD set, but Rys also gave me this beautiful little fossil, only 1.2″ across:

Lastly, I have a better picture of the mini-socks, which shows the colours better. I’m still trying to decide whether to make them into earrings or just add cords to make them into ornaments.

Our national Association of Guilds of W, S & D has asked for submissions for a Wall of Socks for some upcoming exhibitions, so I thought I would play around with some quick ideas. I spun this laceweight skein:

as a sample for yarn to knit the Multicolored Sockies from Socks, Socks, Socks, but the colour repeat was far too long, so I decided to use it for mini-socks instead. Here is the first one:

The colours are more accurate in the skein picture, but the green is bluer than it looks in either of them. I had to scan the sock instead of photographing it, as the camera is playing up.

I was thinking of making them into earrings, but they may be a little too big … they are 2.5″ from the tip of the toe to the furthest point of the cuff. I have enough left to knit the second one, so I’m going to do that anyway, then decide.

I finally finished my exchange shawl, and it is on its way to the swap hostess. I used Heartstrings’ Pendants Faroese pattern and 4-ply merino lambswool. That “4-ply” is the UK yarn weight description, equivalent to thin sportsweight, but the yarn is actually 2-ply. It is as soft as you would expect, and very nice to use, and being coned, there are no joins.

The distinctive feature of Faroese shawls, of course, is the shoulder shaping which gives a good fit and lessens the problem of the shawl slipping off all the time. This pattern uses the lace design itself to give the necessary increases.

That shaping would cause problems if blocking the shawl laid out flat, so it needs to be blocked while folded. Jackie says it doesn’t need pinning or wires, but I found that helped.

With that out of the way, I’ve been working on my other shawl, for me this time, and I am ready to cast it off. Two shawls finished in the same week – definitely a record for me! I probably won’t block that one until my Zonta wires arrive. 

I also finished a woven silk scarf for my guild’s annual Challenge, but I forgot to take pictures before I handed it over. I’ll get it back the weekend after next, so I’ll take pictures then.

I plan to get back to the Sanquhar gloves and another shawl (laceweight this time) and the socks I started for myself before Christmas, I think. I have a couple of ideas for the loom too, but more on those later.

I’m still working at them, between knitting shawls. I have one glove past the end of the thumb gusset. Please excuse the bad picture, but you can see a larger version if you click on this one:

Although I am enjoying knitting these gloves and I do like the way the pattern is developing, I really, really want to knit one of the more famous grid-based Sanquhar patterns like Duke. I couldn’t make them for myself because I’d have had to mess around with the pattern too much to make it fit my narrrow hand, or aim for a gauge of 15 or more sts/in. Fortunately, Rys has volunteered to let me knit him a pair, which with his big hands will only be about 11 sts/in, and he has even promised to wear them if I get the fit right.

We happened to be in John Lewis yesterday. Our friend Diana, who works in their yarn department, had told us about a yarn that might be suitable for his gloves, Rowan’s 4-ply Yorkshire Tweed. I think she is right, as it is not machine washable so although it is not as ‘clingy’ as the Shetland I’m using for mine, I think the floats will bed down nicely once it is washed. Rys chose the combination of Oceanic and Dessicated. ["dessicated"? what kind of name is that for a yarn colour?!?!]

While we were in John Lewis, two little fellows followed us home:

… and talking of being followed home by sheepies, my friend Jan, who was also my first formal spinning tutor, picked up some interesting fleeces while at the 6th World Congress on Coloured Sheep in New Zealand last November. I bought 500g of moorit Polwarth from her:

The speaker at the meeting was Annabelle Spencer of the Falkland Islands Agency in Wells. She brought along a good selection of pure Merino fleece from the Falklands, and I couldn’t resist getting a pound of this superfine ‘silver’ which, as you can see, is actually more brownish than the description would suggest.

I’m making progress on the gloves. I’m knitting them in parallel to avoid any risk of ‘second glove’ syndrome. I’ve reached the start of the thumb gusset on both, so it seemed a good time to take pictures and give a progress report. It’s getting dark so I had to use fill-in flash, and by the time I realised the “5″ is obscured by the needle it was too late to take more.

Yes, I am using unmatched sets of needles. The pink ones are #00s from the Susan Bates sock set (very nice needles) and they are a tad larger than the others, which are 1.75 mm Inox. That doesn’t worry me as I discovered when I measured my hands that my right hand is slightly larger than my left, so if that glove does work up a little looser, that will be a good thing.

That discovery started me wondering whether there is any connection between my right hand being dominant and the size difference. It isn’t like having better developed arm muscles on the dominant side due to more exercise, as my hands are very thin and the knuckles (where I measured) are really just skin and bone.

A few friends were chatting about swifts on AIM last night, and I mentioned my charity shop find, a folding mini-swift called the Aero Wool Winder. In the hope that some blog-readers might be interested, Rys helped me take some pictures of it today. Judging by the picture in the leaflet, I’d say it was made in the 1940s, or perhaps early 1950s:

It fits into a box 10″ x 2.7″ x 1.3″ (25.4 x 7 x 3.3 cm):

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