First Handspun Project!

Managed to take some shots of my very first handspun project - these are the Knitted Handwarmers by Mary Spanos in Lee Raven's Spin It. I had to modify for my heavy gauge:

And this is what they look like on:

And man, are these babies warm! I can't wait to wear them - in the next snowfall maybe! Truly, I am thrilled with them despite their very "homespun" appearance.





The last afghan square is finally complete, finished on a train journey to and from London this weekend. The final pieces are about to be blocked, and will be sewn together when dry.

In London I visited with my old friend Linda, who has received a number of knitted items from me, including this Anthropologie-style Capelet, from Peony Knits blog pattern (find it free on Ravelry):

This was done in the most wonderful yarn ever - Pear Tree 12 ply Merino, and is so soft that Linda didn't believe me when I told her it was 100% wool! The beautiful, flecked, robin's egg blue is also to die for. It is a such shame this yarn is hard for me to lay my hands on, even with Australian connections.

I was seeing friends in London (and taking in a show), so didn't get a chance to yarn shop, but did manage to dive into Waterstones Piccadilly, have a cup of tea on the 5th floor and browse the craft section - where I purchased Jenny Lord's Purls of Wisdom: The Book of Knitting. Although pitched at a more beginners market than I am, I liked the introduction to knitting through history, and the pretty, whimsical, one skein patterns.  It poured with rain all weekend, making another friend look enviously at my plain black Jo Sharp beret (done in a budget Sirdar wool/acrylic blend) and ask for something like it - as it is loose enough not to flatten hair, but warm and quite waterproof.  Jenny Lord has a pretty beret pattern in the book - so that might be my next project, and I have many, many single skeins to use from all those American small towns we visited last year, so the little projects in the book will soon all be tried out, I think.

An Almost Complete Afghan, and Spun Yarn

A few weeks ago, I couldn't wait to finish the Afghan - it has taken 15 months of square knitting, here and there, to get to this point. But now I am on the last square (number 21), and half of it is sewn, and the other half blocking, this finishing process is rather delicious and I almost don't want it to end. Here is the half that is sewn:

It looks rather nice just as it is! Perhaps I didn't need to do 16 squares after all...

Onto other fibre news - my spinning has gone on apace and by Sunday evening I had this:

All ready to do some colourblock handwarmers, adapted from a pattern in the Spin It booklet you can see in this photo, and gifted to me a while ago by Julia. Yesterday saw me on a precious annual leave day, and a trip to Hexham (sadly no yarn shops there), and on the drive there and back, plus the evening I completed the handwarmers, and was delighted. Stay tuned for a pic.

The texture of my spun yarn is still rather too super-bulky for my liking, but I started my next spinning project straight away and was thrilled to see the yarn come through much more smoothl and finely. This time I am spinning alpaca, bought a few years ago at Ally Pally:

So if there is a theme to my current adventures in fibre, it is of tying up some very enduring loose ends - the afghan has been a slow burning project, but spinning even more so; my spindle and the fleece has been on the back burner for several years now, as has sewing, which I am also doing much more of. Perhaps the textile history of Yorkshire is seeping into my bones.

A Spinning Task

So after yesterday's workshop, I have dug out my top-whorl spindle, and some dyed tops that came with it, and my goal today is to spin all of this blue fibre:

I've set up on my kitchen counter, by the radio, and am just coming and going in between other Sunday activities, spinning for 5 or 10 minutes at a time. I'm not happy with the quality of my "yarn", but it will come with time I believe...

Spinning at Gayle Mill

Today I took myself "over the tops" as they say around here, from Swaledale into Wensleydale and the picturesque village of Gayle, where my destination was Gayle Mill, a 17th century cotton mill, now restored and used as a saw mill/museum/traditional craft hub (www.gaylemill.org.uk/):

My objective was to work out if I was using my drop spindle correctly at home, and Stella Adams-Schofield was running the Introduction to Spinning and Tassle Making course at Gayle Mill today (http://www.stellaadams-schofield.co.uk/), and through the morning I spun wool (merino tops of varying colours), cotton (as it was, after all, a cotton mill), and flax on a low whorl drop spindle. And yes, I had been doing it right, but Stella's demonstrations and guidance gave me invaluable insight and confidence to just get practising more. In fact, by the end of the morning Stella had me spinning consistently, pulling out the fibres as I went, rather than spinning, stopping to pull out fibres, then spinning before stopping again, as I had been doing. Lunch was provided by the Herriot Cafe in Hawes, whose sausage rolls would be worth quite a journey for, before we resumed working again through the afternoon - using our spun yarn mixed in with commercial yarn to make a tassle. Here is my result:

Tassles, I was intrigued to discover, probably date to our ancient histories as humans, and were used as, or part of, amulets for protection against evil.  It is likely that fringes date from the same practice, so the fringes we add to clothes and blankets now have that history as well - a fascinating little insight into something I had previously thought of as purely decorative. Decorative is nice, but I like things to be useful too, so that snippet of history made me much more interested in tassle making than I might have been otherwise. And a very pleasant, therapeutic activity it is too - definitely recommended as a way to use up first handspun yarn.

Sewing, And Yet Another Square

Readers, I am on fire with these afghan squares, which now the end is in sight are coming off the needles apace. Here is my latest one, the Melissa Leapman "cat" square (which granted was very easy, but fun to do):

But I have not been knitting today - I have been sewing! I need long, quiet (preferably rainy) days to sew, and today was just such a day. So I had another go at my recently attempted Simplicity pattern for lounge or pajama pants, this time in some beautiful Liberty fabric I bought from ebay years ago:

And the result is better! Although I was no quicker, and it actually took all afternoon, with much fiddling around with the waist casing:

But it did take just one afternoon, and I have a wearable and beautiful pair of lounge pants for this evening. I think I needed a break from the long, slow slog that knitting often is!

I took my time cutting (and used a cutting table which helped enormously), matched up my notches (thanks Aunty Carol, for that and some other tips!), and reinforced the crotch seam as well. I dithered between a drawstring and elastic waist, and went for elastic in the end as the pants are low-slung and I thought that would work better, and sit more tidily. But I have made a drawstring - that will be for my next project (Amy Butler's In Town bags). Stay tuned!

Derby

Today saw the husband and I travel to Derby, for a day trip. But first - what to knit on the 2 1/2 drive there and back?? My afghan square required too much looking at charts for in-car knitting, so I grabbed my spring green Lana Grosse sock yarn from Leuven, and the pattern for Papirkirvens' Pointless Wrap (available free on Ravelry), and cast on. Such a good feeling! I have knit the Wrap before, as a commissioned gift for a friend's mother, and always planned to do one for myself. It's a great pattern for one 100g ball of sock yarn, it's very easy and fits the bill perfectly for in car/after work knitting, and as you know, readers, that is exactly what I don't have on the needles right now - until now.

So - to Derby. Derby has a yarn shop:

Strand Wools is on The Strand, right in the city centre, and stocks a serviceable range of yarns - mostly Sirdar and James Brett, so most are wool blends, but there is plenty of 100% merino and cottons to choose from, and quite a good sale rack too. I made a little purchase, but not of yarn - instead I bought a pattern leaflet from a James Brett designer, and some very reasonably priced buttons:

I have way too many pattern leaflets, magazines and books already, and one of my knitting goals is to work to my own patterns more anyway, but I love leafing through them for inspiration. And, to paraphrase Flannery OConnor, good buttons are hard to find! I always buy nice buttons when I see them, and these were 5p each - can't argue with that.

Other Derby highlights included the old Silk Mill, which predates the Industrial Revolution - in its heyday it would have looked something like this:

Only a small part remains now by the Derwent, and although housing only a temporary exhibition space, it does have a few cabinets which tell of its historic textile past:

And slightly out of the city centre is the Royal Crown Derby works

where the gold and jewel colours, history and fantastic patterns of the crockery on display inspired me to think about colour and pattern in design (although sadly the colours do not show up well on this photo):

This was the crockery that went down with the Titanic, and of which some pieces can cost upward of £2000. We bought seconds, in modern designs for £3 a pop - a bargain!

One More Square...

Well, the Jacqueline Jewett square is done, and was actually very enjoyable to knit indeed, not too challenging for after work/commuting, but interesting enough to keep me wanting to do another row. It was after I completed it that I realised I had started this one ages ago, working from the (incorrect) chart and had given up and ripped. Although I subsequently downloaded the errata, I worked from the written instructions this time and was fine. I think a lot of knitters have strong feelings about charts vs written instructions, but I came late to charts, as I knitted throughout the 1980s from English pattern books which only printed written instructions, and although I like charts and the visual representation they give, I can happily do without them. Here is the completed square:

And of course, to maintain my momentum, I cast on immediately for the next (14th of 16!) square:

This is square number 11 from the 2009 edition of the Great American Afghan booklet, by Melissa Leapman, and features a cat motif worked in garter stitch and cables. As my last square was very textural indeed, I thought the simpler lines of this one might be refreshing.

And other knitting? Well, I have no other knitting on the needles. Yes that's right - no other knitting. I'm not sure what's wrong with me, but I have moved a pile of old Yarn Forwards down to the sofa to leaf through for inspiration. This can't go on!

On an FO, casting on and awaiting inspiration!

After my success at finishing the husband's jumper this week, I decided to capitalise on the rush of finishing, and completed my current Afghan square:

This is square number 25 from the Great American Aghan book (2009, 2nd Edition), and this square is by Nancy Bush, who I know well from her beautiful sock patterns (Knitting Vintage Socks). This was a lovely square to do, and most of it was done on my commutes home this week. This square takes me to 12, so I cast on for number 13 straight away:

This is sqaure number 5, by Jacqueline Jewett, and is deliciously lacy and bobbled - very texturally appealing. After a couple of false starts I got the pattern anatomy into my head and now have the first (inner) section completed! I am starting to feel on the home straight with the afghan, as I have only enough yarn for 16 squares, so only 3 more to go after this one.

And other knitting? Well, although this all sounds very productive, yesterday found me in a knitting funk, not knowing what to do next. I only have the afghan on the needles, and need something easy, mindless and quick for post work and TV knitting - but what? I can't settle on any one project or yarn, and last night saw me fiddling with different yarns and projects, working a few rows, and then ripping out as none felt quite right. This morning I have returned to the afghan, waiting for inspiration to strike - for the perfect small, easy, beautiful and useful project....