Bex I have updated the blog software and things seem to be running smoothly again, so I should be able to post frequent updates with photos again.
I’m going to join in with the Tour de Fleece, which takes place during the Tour de France; bicycle wheels, spinning wheels, you get the jist! So I will hopefully get lots of spinning done!
Sorry I have been so lax about updating, I will try and update more! It is mainly because my camera has given up the ghost, but after 9yrs of good service I can’t complain too much. I haven’t settled on a new one, so my picture taking is abit dis-joined at the moment, and I like to include photos in my posts.
So I thought I would update and add the photos in later.
I ordered myself a loom this week, so have tried that out today, its fun and eats yarn quickly! I want to use it to make a blanket and use up all the novelty yarns that have accumulated in my stash box.
I have been spinning lots recently and enjoying new fibres, dfferent sheep wools, alpaca, tencel, silk, etc..
I am really enjoying hand dyed colour ways, the way the colours play across the knitted fabric.
This a shetland Capelet made with handspun yarn (fibre from Wildcraft), Nahajo plying always the colours to slowly stripe.
Superwash English Wool Blend from Wildcraft, Navaja plied for striping yarn, this will be a tank top for Em.
Well I had hoped to post a lovely picture of the yoke which I have finished and am now working on the main colour. But my faithful camera of 8 or 9 yrs has given up, every memory card I put in it just says card error. So a new camera is on the cards, wouldn’t have minded if I had wanted a new one, but the old one worked perfectly and despite being dated I really liked it.
Here is the picture of the work so far. The sheep need faces and legs! You can see the stitches held on spare yarn at each side.
I have now started on the sleeves, even though I haven’t finished the body, as I haven’t decided if I want to add any colour work to the bottom of the body, so I thought I would do the sleeves then assess how much yarn I have left when they are done.
Sleeves: Using main colour Pick up 3 sts from Cast on in arm pit and knit 44sts on holding yarn.
Work 1.5inches in Main colour, decrease 2 st at sleeve ‘seam’, and every 3inches, until 41sts remain.
Work straight until sleeve measures 8.5inches from arm pit.
Work colour and ribbing, then cast off.
Repeat for second sleeve.
I have got back to knitting some squares for my sock yarn blanket this weeek too, so its growing again, I think it might be ready for next winter. The more I do of it, the more I love it and the more I want to give it to Emily, I feel its something she could grow up with and keep for the rest of her life. But I still really want it for myself, as it fels so nice over my lap, light and warm.
Size 3-4yrs
Casting on 70sts
Work as parttern for 6rows of chart.
Before working the flowers, work 4 more rows in blue and more increases (2sts per section).
I am aiming for 236sts at the bottom of the yoke. Calculation: {28(chest inches)x5.5(sts per inch)}+ {8(sleeve width inches[same as original]) x2 x 5.5(sts per inch)} = 242. The original pattern doesn’t have additional stitches under the arm, I am going to add 3sts under each arm to improve drape and fit. Therefore 242-6 = 236.
Work as per the pattern rows 7-12 (including the increases in row 7) for the flowers and grass, placing the flower repeat ever 8st.
If you find carrying the yarn floats hard, you can work rows 9-10 and 11-12 using the mosaic knitting (slip stitch) method (Have a read of this helpful Knitty article). But basically you work the stitches for 1 colour for 2 rows, slipping the stiches for the 2nd colour, then work the 2 rows again knitting the 2nd colour and slipping the first colour.
Work rows 13-16 as per the pattern. (166sts)
Work 2 rows with 2 increases per section in the first row. (182sts)
Work rows 17-22 as per the pattern, placing sheep evenly around the yoke.
Work as pattern rows 23-32, including colour checks.
Working with main colour as pattern increase 3 sts per section in the following row (each section now has 27sts). Total stitches (27×8 + 6 + 8 + 8) = 238sts.
Work 37sts, place next 44sts on holding yarn for sleeve, cast on 3sts (for underarm), work 76sts, place next 44sts on holding yarn for sleeve, cast on 3 sts (for underarrm), work remaining 37sts.
Work evenly in main colour for body.
Yay dry wool!
The pictures I took mid process seem to have disapeared off my mem card (that’s what you get for using a camera with memory card thats 8yrs old and has probably exceeded its max write cycles!).
So here are the pictures of the finished yarn cakes.
In the next picture hopefully you can see the 2tone 2ply for the main colour, and the variagation in the grass green and sky blue.
At last I can cast on!
I died all the fibre earlier in the week.
I spun the singles, have of each colour first, then the second colour, to help improve consistency. Then plied and skeined it all. I have washed and finished it all, but now have to wait for it to dry before I can wind it into balls.
I haven’t measured the yardage so fingers crossed.
I choose lilac solid and mauve/purple with some variation, for the main colour, I have made a 2 tone 2 ply yarn with it, and am really pleased with how its come out. As long as there is enough, as I doubt I would be able to make a good dye repeat of this.
In other news I have been preparing some batts for the shop, as well as some orifice hooks and some stitch/row markers. I had planned to do an update this afternoon, but have run out of steam, so it will either be mid week, or next weekend. Sorry.
As a spoiler…
There are some Sock Batts Merino/Nylon in colourway ‘Fire’, Ladybug orifice hooks, and simple stitch/row markers in various colours.
I knitted a small swatch with the 2ply sample I had spun and washed. I didn”t bother to knit a sample with the 3ply as I preferred the 2ply and think it will offer a lighter drape in the finished fabric, also will require less spun singles.
I measured the wpi of the finished sample at about 11wpi, which is Double Knitting (US Light Worsted). This is great news as thats what I was aiming for.
On 4mm the gauge is …sts x …rows per 4inches.
My sample only weighed 4grams and gave 8meters, I didn’t think this was a large enough sample to use to calculate yardage per gram. But using it as a guide (2meters/gram) I spun 50grams of the undyed fibre, which was 105meters. 2.1meters/gram. (2.3yrds/gram)
I haven’t rewritten the pattern as I tend to work the pattern out as I go, but I can still estimate the yardage based on the yardage for the original sizing and the final measures of the new garment.
I’m going to work the pattern to fit 3-4yrs.
Chest: 28inches (71cm)
Length: 15inches (38cm)
Sleeve: 10inches (26cm) x 8inches
I could just make a generous guess about how much bigger this is than the original size, however a bit of simple maths will give me a pretty realistic value to use to calculate yardage. (28×15 + 10×8)x2 = 1000. Technically this is the number of square inches of knitted fabric (it doesn’t take into account the fact the top is narrower than the bottom). For the original size : (22×14 + 7×8)x2 = 728.
To work out the new yardage : ( new size / original size ) x original yardage. (1000/728) = 1.37
Main Colour (250 yards);
blue (90 yards);
green (90 yards);
cream (90 yards);
black (less than 20 yards);
pink (less than 60 yards).
New yardage / weight
Main Colour 343yrds / 150grams
blue 124yrds / 54grams
green 124yrs / 54grams
cream 124yrds / 54grams
black 26yrds / 11.5grams
pink 83yrds / 36grams.
Total weight = 360grams
So todays job is dying each of the colours. Cream is undyed, and I’ve already spun 50grams of this.
I still haven’t decided on a colour for the main colour, I don’t want to do tan or any shade of brown, I’m thinking a pink or lilac or purple. Suggestions?
I have spun the singles and done a 2ply and 3ply sample which I have washed and am waiting for them to dry. Hopefully tomorrow I can knit some swatches. At the moment I prefer the 3ply, as its a more rounded and even yarn, but if I do a 2ply I won’t have to spin as much length of singles. I need to measure the wpi and gauge before making a decision. I hope to be able to calculate how much fibre I need to dye tomorrow, and start on the dyeing.
I said to some Ravelers I would document the process of spinning for a project, altering a pattern and calculating required yardage and weight.
The pattern for 9-12months requires:
DK weight superwash wool in tan (220-250 yards); blue, green and cream (60-90 yards); black (less than 20 yards); for girl’s version, pink (less than 60 yards). Gauge: 5.5 stitches and 8 rows = 1 inch.
This gives a garment with 22inch chest and 14inch length aprox.
Sleeves 7inches long by 8inches-7inches.
Yet again I am guilty of not updating,…. To busy spinning and knitting!
As a quick fill in, I got my Ladybug and have been spinning merily, hand blended Jacob and Agelina Batts for socks, Jacob and Angelina Batts in pink and lilac for a cardigan for Em, Laceweight (well almost) superwash BFL for a shawl, English wool Blend from Wildcraft for a bag in the style of Lizard ridge, my first long draw, thick and thin slub yarn for a necklace, …
Excitingly I got an Ashford drumcarder as a Valentine, Birthday, Xmas present (That’s xmas ’09!), I’m really pleased with it, I must wash some more fleece for blending.
But what I really wanted to post about is a pattern I’m planning on spinning for, its called Sheep Yoke Cardigan. I will have to alter it for Em, as its sized for 9-12months, and recalculate the yardage. I’m going to spin it from Superwash Merino Tops, being machine washable and soft is important for toddlers.
So plan of action;
1. Spin some sample singles and try 2ply and 3 ply to see what I think will be best.
2. Work gauge swatch.
3. Work out meters/gram of the sample I want to use.
4. Rework the pattern in the size I need to make, and work out the yardage I need to spin.
5. Dye up the fibres.
6. Spin 1/2 (or 1/3) of each colour of fibre into singles, then spin the rest. (To help with consistency.)
7. Ply.
8. Finish and wind into balls.
9. Start Knitting!
10. Happy sheepy Tot. 🙂
I can now proudly say I bought my first spinning wheel, a Schacth Ladybug.
Here are some of my opinions and a mini review of the Ladybug;
It is quirky looking and it took me a while to get used to its styling, but now I have decided it is beautiful. Every Ladybug has a tiny Ladybird stuck on it somewhere, Mine is on the front of the right hand leg, at the bottom. I can just about see it if I peer when I’m spinning. I bought my Ladybug from firbrecrafts.com , I’m very very pleased with it and have no regrets. I got one with an attached lazy kate, and have plied from it with no problems, but I guess it will depend on your style, but if you haven’t done much (or any) plying on a wheel before it you may well be ok with it as you have no previous preference. I do tuck the ends of any yarn on the bobbins in when not in use just incase they get caught up in the wheel (which hasn’t happened yet, but a few other people have said its happened to them, as the lazy kate is directly infront of the moving wheel).
I think its an all round fantastic wheel, the scotch tension and double drive option make it very flexible, it has a good range of ratios with the additional whorls ( 5:1 – 16:1), it has a smooth double treddle with an easy action, a nice wide orifice for bulky yarns, the flyer an orifice are in the center; combined with the duble treddle I think this really encourages you to sit straight at the wheel and not favor one side, its light weight (5.6kg) and easy to move with the 3 handles, it seems robust and well main. My wheel came complete with; 3 bobbins, tensioned lazy kate (which holds 4 bobbins), poly drive band, drive band for using double drive, orifice hook, a medium and a fastt whorl (giving ratios of 7:1, 9:1, 10.5:1, 12.5:1).
I span some green and grey wool, to give me enough to finish the handspun hat I’m making. Then I started on the beautiful “Roses Swirl” BFL superwash which I bought from wildcraft.co.uk , I’m spinning the singles quite fine, and will be 2-plying, I haven’t checked the WIP’s but it will be between a 2ply and 4ply weight yarn. Probably for a shawl but maybe socks, it depends what the plied yarn comes out like.
I’m really pleased with how even I can spin on the wheel compared to my hand spindle. It all comes down to being able to use both hands 100% of the time for drafting and being able to vary the speed so easily.
I will post photos in my next post.
Ooh I’ve also made some tiny ladybugs and other bits for the shop.
I’m going to look at and hopefully buy my first spinning wheel on Monday. GoldfishGirl who is an experienced spinner is coming with me. I’m hoping to get a Schacht LadyBug Spinning Wheel. It’s more expensive than the one I had planned to get, but it comes with more accessories; Tensioned Lazy Kate (for easy plying), 3 Bobbins, Threading Hook, Medium and Fast Whorls, Band for Scotch tension setup and Band for Double Drive setup. It has 3 handles built into the wheel, making it easy to carry and more.
Every Wheel is unique, as somewhere on the wheel there is a little LadyBug pal to keep you company wheel spinning.
Specification:
Double Treadle
Single Drive Scotch tension
Double Drive
Weight: 5.6Kg
wheel diameter: 40.5cm
orifice diameter: 9.5mm
spindle height: 73.5cm
drive ratios 7, 9,(medium whorl) 10.5, 12:1 (fast whorl)
I’m so excited, I feel like a small child all over again!
I haven’t spun on a wheel for about 15yrs, and even then it was only a short go. Though having used a drop spindle I can draft and I understand the theory behind the wheel. Here’s hoping I don’t make a fool of myself in the shop!
I’m desparate to love it as much when I try it as I do already, I want to get it home and sit and play with it. 🙂
I’ve ordered some beautiful fibre from Wildcraft , but I think I’ll get some more when I get my wheel, as I’m sure it will soon disappear.
GoldfishGirl brought me a batt of random fibres to our SnB this week. It was beautiful and quick and easy to spin. I’ve spun all 25grams and 2plied it. It’s 16WIP, so about 4ply weight.
I didn’t check the yardage, but I’m going to make a beanie for Chad with it. If there isn’t enough I’ll spin up some brown jacob with some green to finish the rest.
I’ve finished writing a new pattern, for kids socks, knitted toe up. It needs some tidying up, and calculations for extra sizes. I plan to make it in baby, toddler, 4-6yrs, 7-12yrs sizes. I plan to have a few variations in the pattern, traditional or short row heal, ribbed or lace cuff, etc.
Here’s photos of the first pair which I’ve made for Em, these are size 2-4yrs, with Openwork Rib cuff.
I am guilty of not updating, but its because I have been busy knitting lots, dyeing yarn for the shop and making a few buttons. I will post some sneek previews of shop updates here as often as I can.
I found some beautiful yarn recent “Wendy Happy 4ply”, made from 75% Bamboo 25% Nylon. It comes in a selection of beautiful striping colourways and is so so soft and smooth. It costs aprox £5.49 for 100g.
A quick plug for a knitting friend who has just started her own blog.