I love the strong line of the twisted stitches, but the leg is biasing (if that’s a word).
My friend Jane is here this weekend, and is an knitter of distinction, and the best we can come up with is that all the twisting is unbalancing the fabric.
Any ideas? Or solutions? Please don’t tell me to twist the purls as well!
1. Â All Mallard ducks are actually wearing dog masks. Be warned. You will never be able to look at a duck in the same way again.
2. Â Sockupied.
A new downloadable sock magazine from Interweave Press. It has patterns, embedded videos of cast on techniques, a review of DPNs and an interview with CookieA.
I think it’s pretty good. There are different download options for Windows users, and different instructions and download page for Mac users. It does take about 20 minutes to download, and I would download and read the downloading instructions before you download the actual magazine. (If you are like me, the sort of person who tries to use appliances before reading the manual, that is.)
3. Â Penne pasta.
I am completely unable to eat this stuff without thinking of …
Makes me chuckle every time. (Language warning for kids.)
Make it full screen and follow the instructions. Keep watching. Don’t look away from the screen. Instructions appear in red eventually.
5. Â Advertising for Love is a collection of Lonely Hearts adverts from the USA in the nineteenth century. Read the one called “Boo”. How poignant, I do hope he found the woman of his dreams.
So, where did you meet your partner/husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend/best friend? At school, at work, in the park, on holiday, on the internet?
Tell me how and where you met in the comments and I’ll do a draw for someone to win a skein of Crannog in the colour of their choice!
Yesterday I was at the Broughton Gathering, the annual social meet-up for the Scottish Guilds of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers. It’s held in a village hall in the picturesque village of Broughton in the Borders, and every year the house opposite the hall has it’s annual open day for the National Garden Scheme, and every year I miss it because I am involved in Things Woolly.
This year the Gathering was a little quieter than last year but that just meant there was more room for wheels and spindles and fleeces. Isabella, aka Spinning Fishwife was there, and my friend Wren was in Edinburgh for the weekend so I dragged her along as well. She spun on her tiny Jenkins Turkish spindle and entranced everyone with how neat it is, imagine a spindle about as big as a mobile phone and you have an idea of the size of it. It was a beautiful sunny day with the threat of a shower which never materialised.
This is the third year I’ve been, and in each of the last two years I have bought a fleece. The first one is washed and partially spun, the second is (shamefully) awaiting attention) so this year I was determined I wouldn’t buy fleece.
And I didn’t.
I managed to avoid looking at them and touching them… until the last half hour when I made the mistake of walking past them, and the rest, as they say, was history. I was extremely restrained. I resisted the prizewinning, skirted, competition winning Polwarth, (with not inconsiderable difficulty) and chose what must have been the smallest fleece in the display.
It’s a Shetland, just 650g, so quite manageable.
I sought advice from fellow fleece fiends on Twitter and Ravelry, and the received wisdom seemed to be hot water and detergent, and No Swishing to speed the process up unless you want a felted mess.
So I filled the bath with hot water and ecover washing up liquid, and divided the fleece into four to make manageable portions because a wet fleece is kind of unwieldy.
And I left it alone. Aren’t I good?
Just in case anyone is under any illusion that spinning fleece “in the grease” is a fairly clean, if smelly activity, I give you Exhibit One.
This is the “bathwater” after just ten minutes of soaking.
I think this is going to be the China Project while Gavin is away. 650g of greasy fleece might give me about 400g of washed fibre, lanolin is weighty stuff. It was never going to spin into a garment sized quantity of yarn, but I am thinking it might make a nice dog-walking hat.
This reconstructed Crannog is to be found on Loch Tay in Perthshire.
I love the sturdy timbers which support it, not lacy at all, but when they are reflected in the water they have a delicate other-worldly look. Crannog is likewise a laceweight, but not really a flyaway wispy etheral yarn. It’s a “working” lace yarn. The sort of weight you can use for shawls, or a lightweight cardigan, and not have to worry that it’s going to be too fragile to tuck under a winter coat.
Each skein has a generous 150g and 750m of 100% superwash merino.
One skein for a long and exuberant shawl, two for a fine cardigan.
And at just £15 a skein, the possibilities are limitless.
This is Beetroot.
You can see it knitted up on AsaTricosa’s blog. She used just one skein for the Alceste shawl, and it’s just fabulous, wrapping twice round for snugglyness or once for elegance. The pattern is available from a link on her website.
And this is an olive/saffron/forest blend (which is actually VERY Tricosa).
My camera battery is flat so there will be more photos on Monday.
I’ll be at the Broughton Gathering tomorrow with lots of yarn, so if you’re a south of Scotland spinner, I might see you there. If not, have a lovely weekend.
n
PS I’m hoping to get this in the shop over the weekend but I don’t think it will be tonight, sadly.
PPS It dyes like a dream. This is a selection of the colours I took to Stirling, 70 skeins. (All gone!)
I haven’t been “here” as much recently, mainly because I’ve been dyeing like a madwoman and getting ready for Knit Camp (of which more tomorrow).
I need to tell you about a new yarn base (which sold out at the event, to my astonishment and delight), and a new pattern for it which will be available very soon.
But today, I am having a day (more-or-less) off. A few weeks ago I was digging the veg patch and jiggered my right arm. After a visit to the physio, it seems I have Tennis Elbow, and while I am perfectly capable of Doing Stuff, I need to break up my working day so that I don’t have long stretches doing dyeing or twisting skeins, and have rest periods. I even have a splint thing to wear!
Today I have Antipodean visitors, and I have made Oatie Biscuits (recipe in the Food section).
This variant has coconut, peanut butter and sunflower seeds added, in no particular quantity, just until it looked right.
And after that, I have a wee untangling project.
Two skeins, actually. Far too nice to throw away.
Untangling is a bit hit and miss. I have to be in the mood otherwise the temptation to chop it all into tiny bits can be overwhelming, but as a meditative kind of activity in a quiet house, it’s very calming.
I have the opportunity to go to Knit Nation in London. It has all been arranged at lightning speed and I’m sitting here at eleven o’clock at night in my dressing gown with wet hair, nothing packed, nothing ironed, and a bag of Craisins for the train.
I’ll be away until Sunday. I’m not having a stand or selling yarn, I’m just going as myself.
If you’ll be there, do say hello. I’ll be helping on the p/hop stand from time to time, and I’m taking CookieA’s sock design class on Friday.
Planning is great, but sometimes it’s exhilarating to just do something at the last minute, isn’t it?
Advice needed please.
This is my latest sock.
It’s K1 P1 twisted rib, and then K3 tbl P1 leg.
I love the strong line of the twisted stitches, but the leg is biasing (if that’s a word).
My friend Jane is here this weekend, and is an knitter of distinction, and the best we can come up with is that all the twisting is unbalancing the fabric.
Any ideas? Or solutions? Please don’t tell me to twist the purls as well!
n