I'm back!

It's been a while since I blogged last but I'm feeling in the mood to start it up again! How are you? It's been busy around here. It's the summer holidays and my mum came to visit me for 2 weeks. We had a fantastic time in Jakarta, doing some touristy things such as going to the Jakarta National Museum and Taman Safari Park. We had a wonderful time in Bali also and visited an Elephant Safari Park. My mum's favourite animals are elephants so this really made her trip. We rode an elephant and got to feed them too. All the elephants have been rescued and according to our mahout (who was from Sumatra and witnessed how elephants are used for logging etc) the elephants are much happier here and far better cared for than in their previous homes.

After she had gone I had a week at home to do nothing but knit, spin and a little crochet (more on that later though...). This was followed by a relaxing and revitalising week in Bali with my husband. After I got back from Bali I completed a 2 day chocolatier course! I can't tell you how fantastic this was. It was extremely tiring as I learnt so many new things and worked hard to make the chocolates but it was an experience I'm unlikely to forget! Hopefully you don't mind me not going into too much detail...we'd be here for a while if I did!

WIPS:
My main project is my second Custom Fit cardigan. The yarn is from Life in the Long Grass in the colour way Splash in their gorgeous silk/merino blend.  You should absolutely check out their colour ways! So far I've completed the back and the sleeves. I'm about 1/3 - 1/2 way through the cardigan fronts and knitting these 2 at a time.

My next WIP is a sock yarn scrap blanket! Never before have I felt the urge to knit one of these things. My view was that they'd take waaay too long and be a great deal of hassle. However I've been seeing a few on the podcasts I watch and felt inspired. Blankets made of squares just weren't doing it for me though so I cast on the Beryl Blanket. These little hexagons are a bunch of fun to knit although somewhat fiddly. I'm not going to list all of the yarns I've used unless you're really interested.

FOs:

Since the Never Ending Cardigan I'm not sure I've actually finished any knitting...I took a break from it for a while as I wasn't feeling the love but the holidays have given me the boost I needed to pick my needles up again. Spinning took a hit for a while too but during the TdF I was determined to get a longstanding WIP finished.

This project was started in February of last year...it wasn't the easiest of spins which is probably why it hibernated for a while. With some determination (that lead to sore hands) I finished spinning and plied it up before my husband and I went to Bali. I got about 499 metres of a 2 ply. It's stunning and I'm very much looking forward to knitting it up! The fibre was from Ixchel Bunny and is the Magic Bunny Top. It's a blend of 60% merino, 25% firestar, 10% cashmere and 5% angora. It's not the softest yarn ever, which I attribute to the firestar, but it's fine for next to skin wear.

As I mentioned above I've been teaching myself to crochet. My efforts have not culminated in a great deal yet so I won't post pictures yet. My brother and his partner are expecting a baby this month and I've started crocheting them the Classic Baby Blanket. I'm using some King Cole Merino Blend in the Kingfisher colourway. So far it seems to be coming out OK but I'm not holding my breath!

I hope you've had a good few months and will check in here. I love to read any comments you have to share so if you have anything to say, please do!

 

Things I Learned When Knitting the Never Ending Cardigan

The journey of the Never Ending Cardigan has been quite a long one. I started it back in March May 2014 and finished on Friday. Having spent Thursday morning completing the button band and casting off, I planned to spend the rest of the day sewing on buttons and weaving in ends. I was immediately concerned that it wouldn't get finished when we booked last minute flights (we left for the airport an hour after buying them) to Singapore to see friends. Quickly I threaded some yarn through where I'd put pins in for the buttons and packed it to take with me. It got a bit of attention at the airport and then on Friday I finished it.

While I have enjoyed knitting the NEC I am incredibly glad to have it finished. It hasn't been a hardship working with this beautiful yarn though and I'm sure wearing the cardigan will be an absolute pleasure. It's been an incredibly interesting knit; ironic since it's all stockinette stitch with a little ribbing chucked in there for fun. It's my first adult sized fitted garment though and I've learned a lot while knitting it.

Things I learned:

- That swatching is really important. I don't swatch for many things but it certainly paid off for this!
- I will gladly use the CustomFit recipe maker again. I struggled with some of the terms but that's because in this instance I was pretty much a beginner knitter! The Ravelry group are so helpful and I always got answers to my questions and the help I needed.
- I don't mind seaming that much.
- I hate blocking. Alright...I didn't learn that from the cardigan...it just confirmed it! I went into complete meltdown as the fronts looked far too big and I couldn't shape them properly and I thought the whole thing was a waste of my knitting time....
- My husband hates blocking too. At least when I do it!
- I am sometimes quite irrational. (See my hatred of blocking).
- Where is important to mark off in a pattern so row counting is easier.
- I need more lobster claw stitch markers to mark certain points in the knitting.
- That you count decreases not from where the two stitches overlap but the stitch that joins them...so obvious when you think about it!
- Finally that I should knit more cardigans!

Project details:
Pattern from CustomFit
Yarn: InkedYarn in the Katharine base. A 55% SW BFL/45% silk blend
Buttons: 6 mother of pearl, 3/4 inch
More details can be found on my Ravelry project page.

Overall I'm really pleased with it and think it fits quite well. There is a little too much fabric near the armholes but this doesn't seem uncommon with the CustomFit design and there are ways to fix it. The buttons are really pretty however I didn't use any grosgrain ribbon and I am slightly concerned that the buttons will pull on the button band, although seeing as I rarely button cardigans up it may be OK.

I have the yarn on the way for a second CustomFit Cardigan and hope to begin swatching soon! I'd love your feedback my first adult cardigan! Is there anything I should consider changing for next time?

 

My First Beaded Shawl!

As I said a little while ago I've finished and blocked my Rivoli Shawl. My husband just got round to taking photos as we're having quite a clear sky day here. It's lost some of it's shape as it was blocked a few weeks ago but it's still beautiful and I couldn't be any happier with it. It will definitely need blocking before I go away again but I don't mind that too much.

You may have noticed that it's not as deep as the pattern example and the main reason for that is that I didn't swatch! I never swatch for shawls as I'm happy to rip out if the fabric isn't what I want and am generally not bothered if it comes out a little smaller or bigger than the pattern example, as long as it's still wearable. I only used 496 metres of yarn and the pattern recommends having 700 metres available to use.  

If I were to knit this pattern again I would use a different blend. The fiber is Lotus Yarns Forest Dew, which is a blend of 36% angora, 30% merino, 26% tencel and 8% cashmere. While I love the finished shawl it does give it a different look to the merino/silk blend that the designer used. It's more soft, fluffy and not as polished looking. When I do get to wear this in December I am sure that I will greatly appreciate the fluffiness of it! 

The beads are great as they weigh the shawl down a bit and I'm hoping they will help to hold it in place when I do wear it.  Using the Fleegle Beader made the beading a huge amount easier than using floss to transfer the beads and I'm extremely happy I had it. In the future I'm sure I will make some more beaded projects although, I have no plans to at the moment. 

What have you finished recently that you can't wait to wear!? 

Analysis Paralysis

(I wrote this post on about the 10th January, however it sat in my drafts for one reason or another. I will write an update on my spindling shortly, as I've made some progress, but wanted to post this anyway.)

Spinning has been on my mind a lot of late. I'm obsessing over looking into buying a wheel at the moment and I've finally got an invite to the Southern Cross Fibre club! I asked to be on the waiting list in August 2012 and got the invite just a few days ago. Of course I'm signing up as I know David's fibre is gorgeous and I really like a lot of the club colour ways I've seen. 

The other reason it's on my mind though is that I'm trying to enjoy spindling again. As I said in this post I'm finding it frustrating. I hadn't really worked out why at this point though. It was definitely something to do with the stop start motion and winding on and so on but I wonder if it's more than that. On Thursday I dug around in my stash for some samples from the Phat Fibre box I got quite some time ago. A beautiful violet batt from Luthvarian Fiber Arts jumped out at me, begging to be spun. It's a blend of corriedale (which actually I've never enjoyed spinning), merino, silk, bamboo and firestar. The colour is called Wild Violets and you can see a picture of the batts here.

To try to understand where my frustration in spindling lies I decided to go and watch as many YouTube videos on support spindling that I could find, beginners or not. Although I had done this when I started but I  found some different ones. Normally I sit with my support spinning bowl to my right, I use my right hand to flick the spindle and my left to draft the fiber. A lot of the videos started with the spinner having their spindle bowl in their laps; I had never found this comfortable but thought I'd try it to see if it helped get me out of my funk.

Digging out my Spanish Peacock pocket Russian spindle I tried starting with my bowl in front of me. At first I found that it hurt my shoulder so I adjusted the way I was drafting to try to make it more comfortable. After a while it occurred to me that perhaps I just prefer spinning batts on my spindles. Could this be it? Is it easier to spin top on a wheel than on a spindle? What are your thoughts on this? I feel having both hands on the fibre might help control it better but am I wrong in this?

I took my spindle in the car with me on Friday morning and happily spun away on the batt until I arrived at work. After work was finished, and I was waiting for a friend, I picked up the spindle and spun for a few minutes...Saturday I took it in a taxi and got a little more done and then Saturday afternoon I finished and plied the batt. Overall I'm not sure what it was that made that experience much more enjoyable than my spindling of late....

• Was it the batt? I definitely found it easier than spinning top; perhaps because I wasn't so worried about it drafting out evenly across the top? 

• Was it the spindle? It's a lovely spindle but it's a Russian like many other of my spindles and all are from reputable makers so I'm not sure. I also don't think it's the length of the spindle. 

• Was it the new bowl position? I need to try this out on my other spindles to know for sure. 

• Was it the wool? Corriedale has a long staple and maybe that's part of it. The polwarth/silk top I'm spinning is easy to draft but the top is difficult to manage as when I was splitting it in half I pulled one of the halves apart in some places.

Whatever the reason I really enjoyed this spinning and am going to keep trying to overcome my frustrations with my other spindles. I would love to hear what fibre preparations you prefer spinning and why.

 

FO Friday #7

I did it! As I have the house to myself for 3 blissful days I sat down for a few hours this morning and finished my Rivoli shawl! When I cast on this pattern on 30th Dec 2013 I knew it would take me most of the year (if not longer) to complete and I was fine with that. It has been an incredibly satisfying knit and, while it's by no means perfect, it is glorious and I'm really pleased with it.

The pattern looks more complicated than it is and was fairly easy to knit. Admittedly I rarely did more than about 4 rows in one go as I did have to concentrate carefully on adding the beads and the lace pattern. The short rows seemed to take forever however, I was grateful to be casting off only 254 stitches instead of the 334 that I started with.

The yarn (Lotus Yarns Forest Dew Fingering Weight) is as soft as you would expect from a blend of 36% Angora, 30% Merino, 26% Tencel and 8% Cashmere. It was easy to knit with, if a little slippery at times and incredibly warm. There is a bit of a halo from the angora but not enough to obscure the lace or be too irritating if you don't like that sort of thing. My main worry is the strength of the yarn but as the shawl really won't get a great deal of wear it shouldn't be an issue. The beads add a little glimmer, a bit of weight and I also really like how they feel too.

I was nervous about the blocking of it as I've never blocked an angora blend but it seemed to wet block OK; I really won't know until I take it off the mat though. It's so difficult to get a good picture of it; hopefully my lovely husband will take a much better photo when he is back! 

I feel really good for finishing this and hope that the rest of the year continues in the same way! Have you finished any of your languishing projects from last year or perhaps cast on something new for 2015?

   

FO Friday #6

 




























It's been a while since I've had an FO and I'm really pleased to be showing it to you today. As was inevitable, I got bored of my current WIPs and have shamefully ignored my cardigan (and various other WIPs) in favour of something a little more interesting!

A few weeks ago I received some Juno Fibre Arts Alice in the Moss and Stone colourways. I bought it so I could knit the gorgeous 2014 Curious Collective Shawl. This is the first time that I've knit using the recommended yarn and that I've completed a KAL in the time frame and I'm so pleased with the result.

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of the shawl check this blog post out for an explanation. I hadn't voted right at the beginning as I was late to the party, but did vote for a couple of aspects of the shawl. 

The pattern is very well written (and charted), with percentages alongside the pattern instructions so you can keep track of how far through you are, as well as allowing you to keep an eye on your yarn. I ended up with a shawl a bit smaller than the original but I'm OK with that. Potentially I could make another one with the left over yarn, but the opposite way round. 

The yarn, a delicious blend of 70% alpaca, 20% silk and 10% cashmere, was a sheer delight to knit with. It's so warm and has a slight halo about it from the alpaca but also has a little bit of sheen from the silk. It works so well with the pattern and since it's been blocked it's held it's shape well. I'm very sad that Juno Fibre Arts is closing as she is a very talented dyer. I'm sure the loss of her yarn will be felt by her fans. 

Of course it's far too warm to be wearing it here in Jakarta, unless the air conditioning is very chilly, so it will just look beautiful until I get a chance to wear it!

   

FO Friday #5

For the Tour de Fleece one of my goals was to finish spinning and plying my Fondant Fibre punis. On Monday I finished plying the last of them so that's this week's FO! 

I love the colour of the yarn and have been hankering after some green for a while. The punis were quite easy to spin although I found the tighter ones quite difficult to draft smoothly. However, while I love the finished yarn I am disappointed with the yardage as there's only about 295y for the 100g of light fingering weight yarn. Before I counted the yardage I was hoping to knit a shawl with it but I don't think that's realistic anymore unless I were to pair it with another colour, which means buying more yarn. If you have any suggestions for what I could knit please leave a comment below!

In other news we are in Singapore now! Our plans are quite loose at the moment although we will definitely be going to the zoo at some point which I'm really looking forward to. I'm also hoping to get to the botanical gardens too! Hopefully I'll be back here with some lovely photos however spinning and knitting might be a bit thin on the ground!

Two Weeks Left!

It's been far too long since I've posted - things have been hectic the last few weeks. The amount of socialising we have done is crazy! We leave China in two weeks and I have one week left at work. It's come around so incredibly quickly and I expect the next week to fly by even quicker than the previous weeks have! 

We have no definite plans for the holiday but we will head to Thailand and be there for four weeks. Then hopefully we'll have a week in Singapore before heading back to Bangkok to head to Jakarta on the 9th August. I'm really excited about our new adventure and hope that the blog will have more travel posts than I've been able to write this year. Our aim in Indonesia is to travel there as much as we can - we'll have a car so this will help greatly. 

I have enjoyed my time in China and it's been an incredibly valuable experience for us both. Leaving will be difficult as we've made some very good friends here and met some wonderful people. It is time to move on though and to begin a new adventure! 

As for knitting - I have an FO! It took a while but I have finished the Trillian I have knitted for a friend. I didn't massively enjoy the pattern as I found it quite boring but I like the FO and hope that my friend does too. The yarn (Juno Fibre Arts Milly Standard) was lovely to knit with however, I much prefer non superwash wools. The colour is gorgeous and the different tones make for a very interesting knitted object. 

Trillian in Juno Fibre Arts Milly Standard - Grape colourway

That's it from me for now. I hope to be back soon with more knitting and spinning. 

Normal Service Can Now Resume

It's New Year here now so happy year of the horse to you all! I hope that it is a great one. 

Because of the holiday I get a 10 day break, which I'm incredibly grateful for as the last couple of weeks have been manic and I haven't had a great deal of time to do what I want to do. 

Knitting has been quite minimal, as has spinning, but I do have an FO to share with you today.

I finished my handspun Gravitate shawl. I used my Inglenook Fibers Parrot Tulip yarn and I really like how it turned out. The colors aren't necessarily me and I think I prefer it in the skein but it is a fun shawl that brightens up the grey days here.

As I'd knit this previously it was quite quick. It's also (I think) mistake free which is probably a first for me! The colours and textures are highlighted quite well in the shawl and I'm pleased with the combination of pattern and yarn. 

 You can see here that the yarn has lots of neps and different colors. I really like the white against the orange and the odd bits of sparkle. 

As you may be able to tell I didn't use all of my yarn and could probably have worked the pattern so that I did. I'm OK with this as I was ready to be finished with the shawl. 

I am working on the Rivoli Shawl and have nearly finished the first pattern repeat. It's taking quite some time for each row as there are about 360 stitches on the needles plus the beads. It's not a complex pattern although does require my full concentration. Any photos I take don't seem to capture how beautiful it is so I'll leave photos until I have more done, in the hope that I will be able to capture it's elegance better. 

As for spinning, I'm working on some stunning Ixchel Bunny Pure Luxury No 5. It's a blend of yak, cashmere, tencell, bison and angora. It's a tricky fiber to spin as it's so slippery but spinning from the fold really helps keep it under control. It's stunning as it is and I'm positive that the results will be even more beautiful. If you haven't tried Charly's fiber then you absolutely should! 

That's all for this week. I hope that normal blogging will resume from now on as I will have more time to knit and spin! 

FO Friday #4

This is a very quick post as it's getting late here but I wanted to share my most recent spinning FO with you. 

I've just finished skeining up my Nunoco Hummingbird yarn. It's not been washed so I don't know the yardage or weight but it's gorgeous. The photo is not the best as I'm taking it indoors, under bad lighting, so please excuse it. I spindle spun it and two plied it. I'll post yardage and a better photo once it's dried and been measured.  

This is the second full Nunoco batt I've spun and they've both been an absolute pleasure. They are blended very well and draft exceptionally well too. The ladies are great to order from and have lovely colour sense - worth checking out if you haven't already. 

FO Friday #3

It's been a few weeks since I've had anything finished and been able to blog on a Friday. 

It's the holidays though so there is no stopping me! I've been knitting like a maniac to get this shawl finished so I can block it ready to gift on Christmas Day. It's finally off the needles and I'm so relieved! 

The pattern is Gravitate by KallioKnits. It's really well written, very simple to follow and knit. Great for those times when you want something fairly mindless...just watch those double yarn over rows! 

The yarn is Fyberspates Rural Charm in the Plum colourway. It's a delight to work with and lovely and soft. The silk gives it a really lovely sheen and I hope that the BFL will minimise pilling. This is it pre-blocking and I hope it grows.  

That's all I'll show you for today. I hope you're enjoying the festive season. I will be spending tomorrow making some pastry for mince pies! 

 

All Skeined Up

I spent my Saturday morning skeining up my gorgeous Iridescent Puddle yarn. It took a while and I had to splice a few ends together to join the separate balls, but it was worth it. The resulting yarn is stunning. I love how the colours blend from the green to the pink.

Today I counted my yardage and while it is the most I've gotten from any skein I would have still liked there to be more. It measures about 249 yards. Perhaps I should wait until I've spun the other batt before deciding on a project so I can really make the most out of these colours. 

The fiber was from Nunuco on etsy. I would highly recommend taking a look at their shop. The batt was a delight to spin. It drafted very easily and was really well prepared. Handily they come in pairs of 50g batts so a 2 ply is very easily done. Prices and shipping are very reasonable and they process orders quickly.

I have my next spinning project all lined up but that can wait for now.

Have a fantastically fibery week everyone! 

P.S I've joined Instagram. Are you on there? I'm knitiot if you want to check me out. I haven't posted much on there yet. 

 

FO Friday #2

As I said last week my aim this week was to finish my Nunoco batt. Well this week I did! I finished the spinning on about Tuesday and then spent the last few evenings plying. It's in quite a few different balls as I had to play around to get the colours to match up better in some places but I really like the consistency of it and how the colours have blended. I need to re-skein, wash and measure it yet though so have no real information to tell you about it. It's so soft and really squishy and overall I'm thrilled with how it's come out. I will post a much better finished picture soon. 

That's it from me this evening. I will probably be back with another post over the weekend though. I'd love to hear what you finished this week!

 

The Socks of Happiness

I finished my Fish Lips Kiss Heel socks tonight and I am thrilled  with them! They are just so much fun that I actually squealed with delight when I put them on and saw how they looked as a complete pair. The heel looks so neat and was very easy to knit. I highly recommend the pattern to anyone wanting to try a new heel. 

I used the magic knot technique to join my yarn to create the stripes and although it has worked out fine I probably wouldn't choose to do this again as it really was a hassle. I will also think about knitting a longer cuff for my following socks, so far they seem to stay up fine though. I used twisted 1x1 rib and really like the way it looks on the colour change. 

Self striping socks are definitely next on my list to knit but do I go plain vanilla or patterned? If patterned, what patterns work well with self striping? I would love to hear your suggestions. 

In other news I have cast on another attempt at the Vertex Cardigan by Carol Feller as I received a 500g cone of yarn earlier this week. My swatch came out at the exact stitch gauge so fingers crossed it will work up OK! I am knitting it out of King Cole Merino Blend 4 Ply in the kingfisher colourway. The colour is beautiful and I've been wanting to add more colour to my wardrobe for a while. Wish my luck! It will be my first adult sized garment. 

As I said last week I cheated on my socks with a lacy shawl. I've not knit much more than 2 repeats of the first chart though. There are only 8 rows in each repeat and I have less than 60 stitches on my needle so very little progress has been made on it!! It's the pattern Sacha by Vanessa Smith which I've knit before. The lace is quite a challenge in that there isn't really an obvious pattern so you need to concentrate on it and that doesn't happen for me during the school week. I'm using Fyberspates Rural Charm in the plum colourway. This will eventually be a gift for a very good friend. As I've mentioned on the blog before, the yarn is amazing to knit with and definitely worth checking out.  

That's it for this week. Remember to check out the giveaway if you haven't already! 

FO Friday #1

I thought I would give FO Friday a try for a little while to see how it goes.  

I'm going to start with my Barley hat that I knit a couple of weeks ago and have only just got round to photographing. 

As I said in a previous post it was a great knit, easy to follow and it looks great! I did fudge the decreases a bit in the seed stitch section but was too lazy to go back and fix them as no one will notice! 

I'll be back over the weekend with more knitting and spinning to show you!

P.S Don't forget to enter the giveaway! 

Finished Object!

I finished my Belgian Waffle Boomerang earlier this week and got around to photographing it earlier this week. The pattern was very clear and easy to knit but it did get a little repetitive after a while. I like the finished object and as it's knit from Fyberspates Faery Wings it will be very cozy to wear. 

In other crafting news I have completed the heel of my socks and thought the Fish Lips Kiss Heel pattern was excellent. The heels fit perfectly, look so neat and were very easy to knit. I highly recommend buying the pattern if you haven't got it already. Don't these socks make you so happy?!

Wanting some (almost) instant gratification I cast on the Barley hat by Tin Can Knits. I knit twisted rib instead of regular though and moss stitch instead of garter. It was quick and I finished it in a few days, photos to come when it stops raining! I really like the way it fits and the pattern is very simple. It's great for some mindless knitting or if you are a beginner knitter! 

I received an incredibly generous gift from a friend. It's approximately 1kg of gorgeous, soft 60%/40% alpaca/wool blend lace weight yarn. I have no idea what the yardage is but I expect it's a lot! Half is an oaty colour and the other half is a soft grey colour. I am going to swatch for Bonny but with the yarn held doubled. Perhaps I'll experiment again (with my swatch first) with dyeing when I have finished the knitting! What are your favourite lace weight patterns?