Monthly Goals Update

Has January whizzed by for everybody else like it has for me!? It's been a good start to 2015 and I hope it continues this way. Having taken a rather long break from doing any kind of exercise this month I decided to start again and not really because it's January either. How long I will keep this up for I don't know but I would really love exercise to be a regular part of my life again. 

At the moment I am flitting between spinning and knitting; trying to do each evenly so I make progress in my projects. Last week I picked up an old spinning WIP that's been sitting unloved since March last year. Back in February 2014 I started spinning some Ixchelbunny Magic Bunny Top in the Aurora colourway. Since discovering that I much prefer to spin combed top from fauxlags I decided to dig out the remaining top and start spinning it again. I realise it's probably going to look slightly different to the first batch I spun but I'm fine with that. Fauxlags are making it an awful lot easier to spin as the sparkle can be a little bit tricky. 

Finish Rivoli shawl - I'm less than 10 rows away from the bind off so this is achievable! As you know this was accomplished at the beginning of the month. 

Pick up my cardigan and knit on it! Stop procrastinating and get on with it! I've finished knitting the right front! 

Half way through I had a little panic that the numbers in the pattern were wrong. Lots of people reassured me that the Custom Fit patterns are very reliable so I was going to push on through when I realised that somewhere, somehow I had missed out 5 stitches! I think it must have happened at cast on as I can't see how else it could have. Instead of ripping out all the knitting I'd done I just increased to the right number of stitches and am now hoping that it's not so noticeable of that it doesn't change the fit drastically. 

Spin for at least 15 minutes every couple of days. I would say I've done this for most of the month...some weeks more than others but I don't think I'm far off. 

So a pretty successful January in terms of my goals. Who knows what I could do in February? How was the start to your 2015? Full of fibery goodness I hope! 

Spindle Success

Recently a lot of my energy has gone into spinning or thinking about it at the very least. Over the last few months I have lost a bit of love for spindling and have been craving a wheel. A wheel may be on the horizon in the next few months but that doesn't mean I will quit spindling. It's important to me that I continue using the equipment I have as I would feel that it would be wasted and fine tools don't deserve that.

Last weekend I set out to try to improve my spinning and sat down with YouTube and Ravelry. I started a thread in Ravelry talking about spinning combed top supported. A few people chimed in to the conversation with really helpful and insightful comments. Some people also gave some advice; one of those pieces of advice being use fauxlags.

In the past I have attempted to make fauxlags but, I messed them up and didn't try again as I didn't think it was the way for me. Having more experience with fibre in general meant that this round was successful. Below is a collage showing how I make them.

I pull off about a staples length of fibre, fluff it out a bit. Then I use some PVC pipe to roll the fibre into a fauxlag and push it off. So far they've worked really well; they're not too tight or too loose.

The fibre I used was Woolgatherings polwarth/silk blend from the Fancy Pants club April 2014. It's been on my spindle for a while but I was finding it frustrating to draft. After I had made the fauxlags I found it much easier to spin! It drafts so easily and quite evenly. I've added to my spindle quite a lot the last week and am really enjoying spinning. Fauxlags may well be my go to for spinning combed tops.

Here's hoping that my spindling continues in the same manner! What prep do you like to spin most?

 

Spindle Saturday!

As I mentioned a few posts ago I requested a custom spindle from Malcolm Fielding. I was delighted to find out it was in the post but also anxious that it might get lost like my Twist issue of Ply magazine. That fear was alleviated yesterday however!

I couldn't spin on it last night after work as I went to the cinema, so I eagerly awoke this morning to try it out! It is absolutely wonderful! I've only spun on Russians, Phangs or my drop spindle so wasn't sure how different it would be spinning with a spindle that has a more sustained spin. It may now be my preference! Whilst I enjoy my Russian spindles I find the shorter spinning time frustrating and have been spinning less due to this.

The spindle is a Butterfly spindle and one of a handful. The whorl is hollowed out on either side, but is made from one piece of wood, to give it it's lovely butterfly wing shape. I feel very grateful for the opportunity to own one of them. I really like the unique design and the contrast between the light Silky Oak of the whorl and the Dymondwood charcoal shaft.

The fiber that it came with is Corriedale roving which I've spun before but didn't like. This time though I'm finding it really easy to draft and thoroughly enjoying it. I may have to put Corriedale on my list of fibers I like spinning.

If you're a spindle spinner which style of spindle do you prefer?

 

WIPs

My goodness today has been productive so far! By 9am I had made a batch of sun dried tomato and ricotta cheese ravioli (I had defrosted a previously frozen batch of fresh pasta for so it's not all been made today) ready for tonight's dinner and done a 30min yoga workout! Then my day went marginally down hill as I took some of the skin off my right index finger but I am back on track and have just baked some oat cookies!

Anyway....knitting!

As I said yesterday I have been knitting on my goal projects for this month and wanted to share the progress here.

I dusted off the cardigan a night or so ago and decided that I just needed to knit it. Having ummed and ahhed over whether to use a stitch pattern on the front of the cardigan or not, I felt that, as that was the reason it'd been sat for a while, I'd better just do it in stockinette stitch so as not to let it sit any longer! A plain cardigan is perfectly acceptable and a fancier one can be knit when I'm more confident that I can do it!

After posting about my goals last night I picked up the socks and knit a few rows. Sometimes it surprises me how fluid it can be to knit on DPNs and that was the case last night. The stitch pattern breaks up the monotony of stockinette stitch and also breaks up the striping a bit.

Each night I've tried to spin a little bit and am making (slow) progress on both lots of fiber. The Inglenook is still in the mostly black part and I'm looking forward to a bit more colour coming through!

What have you been working on recently? Have you got a project that's just sitting there waiting for you to decide what to do with it?

 

WIPs!

So it seems I have accumulated a lot of WIPs over the last few months! I have been putting off knitting some of them for no reason in particular and need to get cracking on them!

As you can probably tell the middle one is my cardigan, knitted from Inked Yarn in the Katharine base. As you can see I only have two sleeves and the back. I cast on the right front ages ago but didn't even get through the second row! Pathetic start I know but I confused myself over the twisted ribbing....it was early in the morning and I hadn't woken up yet! I have also been putting it off because I think I would like some sort of stitch pattern on the front and I need to swatch as I will probably use it all over the fronts. Perhaps this weekend I'll start doing that!

In the bottom left is the Seafoam Shawlette to Shrug that I am knitting for my step daughter. She picked out the yarn - an unknown brand and fiber content (probably acrylic) but it's quit pleasant to knit with. I haven't got very far as it doesn't need to be finished until Christmas and is not the most interesting of knits.

The Girasole in the top left corner of the photo is being knit out of 100% bamboo. It is my second time knitting the pattern and was initially intended for a friends new baby, but I didn't get it finished on time and knit a cardigan instead. This will be finished as it would be ideal as a lap blanket for when the air conditioning gets a bit chilly.

As you can see I haven't done any more work on the Rivoli Shawl. Since we moved it's been sat at the top of a wardrobe (along with most of the other knitting/spinning stuff that wasn't in shipping) waiting to be worked on again.

In the middle I have five spinning projects! Two of them I showed in my last post (alongside the sock I forgot to add to the above photo) and they are my current go to projects. The top one is some Baby Alpaca and Bunny Tops from Ixchel Bunny that I actually spun half of quite some time ago and have favoured other projects since. The middle spindle is some Nunoco that I started during the TdF and have no reason for not picking up since! Underneath that is some Ixchel Bunny Pure Luxury No. 5 that is lovely but challenging to spin.

So those are my WIPs....9 in total! I feel I need a plan of action to complete them all!

How many do you have at the moment? How do you plan to finish them when you have many outstanding?

P.S I've actually just realised I have a few other spinning WIPs tucked away...! I've wound some plying balls and just not started spinning the remaining fiber yet...whoops! Perhaps that's a post for another day?!?

 

Wordless Wednesday (captions don't count right?!)

Piratenwolle Yarn, Fish Lips Kiss Heel Sock  - Diagonal Scallop Stitch

Inglenook Fibers Black Opal - Ply on the Fly

Woolgatherings April '14 Fancy Pants Club

Tour de Fleece

As many of you may know its Tour de France right now, which means it's also Tour de Fleece over on Ravelry. I'm participating in some unofficial teams this year and wanted to share what I'm spinning.

My first goal is to spin my yellow stonecrop batt by Nunoco. I'm currently half way through that and have wound off the singles I've done so far, so I can start the next half. It's a blend of merino, soya and silk noil and it's lovely to spin. It drafts easily and the noils and soya add some textural interest to the grey merino. The yellow and turquoise (it's showing as more blue than it really is here) will eventually be plied together. 

Next up is a WIP I've been spinning for a couple of months, my Fondant Fibre punis. I've finished spinning and plying about 2/3 of the fibre and am on my last 5 punis. I brought this with me as the yarn will be finished, and perhaps knitted with, before my stash arrives in Jakarta.

I've also been spinning on my Ixchel Bunny No. 5 although as it's so slippery and quite a challenge I find I don't go to it very often. It's gorgeous though and I'm sure it'll be a pleasure to knit when it's done. 

That's my TdF - what have you been spinning?

Distractions

As you know I've not been knitting a great deal recently. Over the Easter break we were able to get away to Bangkok for 6 days and I was able to meet up with some other knitters. We sat and chatted and knitted in Simply W (Whittards of Chelsea cafe)and I got a little of my knitting mojo back. Since being back at home though, I've not picked up my needles - the cold I came down with in the first 2 days of my holiday has not helped.

Initially I was frustrated by my lack of interest in my knitting but now I'm acceptant of the fact and trying to enjoy my spinning as much as I can. 

Part of the reason I've been so distracted recently is that I've got a new job and we are moving to Jakarta(!!!!) in the summer so I've been getting the necessary paperwork together for the visa process. We are really excited to be moving to somewhere new but the idea of shipping off my stash while we move is not an appealing one!

Over the next few months I'm going to have to try to pick out some knitting and spinning projects that will see me through about 3 months, while we wait to get our stuff. As you can imagine this is not an easy task so I'm really going to have to plan carefully...any suggestions would be great!

In the previous post I mentioned the Stitched Together SAL; I have been spinning for that and have finished half of my fiber. It's an angora/alpaca blend from Ixchel Bunny and the colourway is called Wallaby Dreaming. I've found this fiber quite challenging due to the slickness and staple length - I can't quite figure out the drafting of it so it's frustrating at times. I love the colours though and it's lovely and soft with a fuzzy halo so I will persevere. If you have any tips for spinning either alpaca or angora please do share them. 

Distracting me horribly from that though are some gorgeous custom dyed punis from Fondant Fibre. They are a blend of merino, BFL and silk and are my first punis. I've been incredibly eager to try this fiber prep for some time and have heard great things about Deb's. She was really helpful and accommodating and her attention to detail regarding the packaging is excellent; my parcel arrived with a stitch marker, wonderful sounding tea bag and a lavender bag! I will definitely order from her again.

That's it for now! Have a great week! Don't forget to follow the link below to follow me on bloglovin'. 

Fibery Fun

This week I've been mainly spinning so haven't got a great deal of knitting done. The knitting I have done hasn't been so great - I dropped a couple of yo's in my shawl and they were right above SSKs or K2 togethers, making fixing them very difficult. I'm not going to rip back as I'm really not that bothered by the mistakes and would probably make it worse. Perhaps I should have been using lifelines as I went along?!?

As for spinning; I started this beautiful top at the beginning of the month. It is Ixchel Bunny Magic Bunny Top and was the Dec '13 club colour way, Aurora. It's a lovely blend of merino, firestar, cashmere and angora. 

 I've divided the braid in halves and am almost finished spinning the first half. I'm really looking forward to seeing the final yarn. 

You may recall from a previous post that I had some Pygora goat locks in the way to me. Well they arrived and they've sat in my stash for a while as I've got to dehair them. I've only got 4oz but it's going to take quite some time; they look lovely though and I really hope they will be worth all of the time and effort! 

 What I've done so far...not much considering I did this over the course of an evening! 

I'd love to hear any tips for spinning locks as it's not something I've tried before. Ideally I would like to keep a little of the curl in my spinning but not too much, any suggestions are much appreciated. 

Have a great weekend and don't forget to follow me on bloglovin' if you enjoy reading the blog each week!

Goodies

It's been a busy couple of weeks here as you can probably tell by my absence last week! I have a few goodies to show you though. 

I received some stunning fiber and a spindle in the post recently, as a prize for some spinning done during (not for) the Tour de Fleece over on ravelry. 

The fiber, from Corgi Hill Farm, is the most luxurious I have in my stash and a new blend for me. It's camel/silk in a stunning gold colour and the spindle is a Spanish Peacock russian spindle measuring just 8 inches! It's a speedy spin and so lovely to use. 

Over the summer I ordered some Cygnet Wool Rich sock yarn. It arrived a while ago but I put it away as I was knitting other things. I have decided that after I finish my Parrot Socks I am going to knit some contrasting heel and toe socks using these two colours. What do you think? I intend to use the Fish Lips Kiss Heel pattern. Has anyone used it? I would love to hear recommendations or tips.  

I was considering knitting some stripy socks initially but I'm not sure I want all those ends to weave in! Does the magic knot technique work for stripes? 

At the beginning of the week I received some rather colourful fiber. It's Hobbledehoy dizzed roving in Shire and is made of up merino, bamboo and tencel with a sprinkling of silver angelina. The pink (of which there is more on the other side of the braid) is really not me but it's a fun braid and will spin up into some fun yarn. 

As for my WIPs, my socks are coming along quite well. The heel is done now and I'm on to the leg. However, I became quite impatient to start the heel so am now gifting these to a friend with smaller feet than I! The gusset was a pain to knit though and I shall be avoiding these like the plague! 

My Belgian Waffle shawl is approximately 40% done. I'm not sure if I'll finish it before the WIP blog hop comes round but I shall try! 

The Nunoco batt has taken a bit of a back seat though while I've been spinning that beautiful camel/silk. I need to give it a bit more love and attention! 

What have you been knitting or spinning this week? 

Singles Storage

So I'm having trouble deciding how to keep my singles when I've spun them and I'm waiting to finish the rest of the fiber so I can ply them. At the moment I am keeping them all in a box with a bit of cardboard in the middle as I don't have enough spindles to store them on. I currently have 4 spinning projects on the go and cannot yet start to ply any of them. How do you keep your singles? Do you finish one spinning project at a time and then ply straight away or do you have multiple projects on the go?

On the left is Inglenook Fibers Parrot Tulip singles, in the middle is Nunoco Iridescent Puddle, top right is Inglenook Fibers Peacock and bottom left is Southern Cross Fibers Frosted Almond. 

I'm off to spin on my Nunoco batt now. Have a great Sunday everybody!