Every so often something a bit different comes to town. As you know, I'm always up for a day out so I packed my spinning wheel and toddled off.
There were big puppets to watch , fighting each other, in one of the squares.
Followed by dragons and animals in the main square
I wound the day up with a coffee and spin before heading home.
Speak soon xx
Hi,
First, the mitten/gloves. As I wasn't able to find a giant to wear them or make them into fingerless easily they are awaiting unravelling.
Final conclusion s are
1 I didn't spin fine enough
2 wartime yarn was super fine
3 the cast on number of stitches seems at odds with other patterns for the same thing
Next steps...
I've ordered a pattern for the gloves from the Scottish Women's Institute for comparison and will have another go, probably knitting them as gloves even though the thought of knitting fingers sends me into a frenzy.
Shetland fleece
I've processed some ready for spinning and I'm currently knitting a pair of mitts to replace the ones I have been wearing for the last four years.
I have a four week plan to work solely on the Shetland, use my nano as much as possible to spin fine and knit a couple more pairs of the fingerless mitts.
I have a pattern for a mans Sanquhar glove which I wanted to make as mitts, I spun the yarn, found the needles and all was well until I got up near to the fingers.
They were too big on me ( as expected) but when I tried them on Ian who has quite wide hands they still didn't fit right, far too baggy at the top of the palm.
I sat and scratched my head and decided to rip them back as far as the thumb hole. My usual mitten pattern sees me cast off 20 stitches for the thumb and pick up 4 on the next row. This pattern has me place 22 stitches on a holder and cast on 11 before continuing the next row
This means I have one extra pattern repeat in the body of the hand.
My plan now is to miss out the cast on stitches and add in just add in maybe two on the next row to keep the pattern correct. That way the stitch count for the cuff remains correct as that fits as expected.
or maybe knit another with one less pattern repeat to see how that works, needle indicates how it would look. I'm looking to find something that works for me so I can slot in different patterns.
I know I could look at ravelry etc to find another pattern but I like the challenge in making something more 'mine'
Hi,
I thought that I had mentioned buying some more fleece? but checking back it looks like I totally forgot to mention any details about it.
I had a message from Ann in Scotland asking if I wanted any Shetland fleece. I purchased some from her last year and it was gorgeous, well skirted, very little dirt, spun like a dream so how could I saw no?
A long conversation followed with many photograph and I settled with a selection of 4 fleeces in different shades from white to very dark grey/black.
I have washed one of the grey fleece and part of the white one which turned out to have a grey streak down the back. The forecast is good for the weekend so I'll pop the rest of the white and the black one into soak overnight.
In the meantime I decided to treat myself to a new toy. I've been thinking about buying a Nano wheel for a year or so but couldn't really justify it with already having an Ashford 3 e-spinner but I finally succumbed, partly due to how fine the Shetland is and my plans for it and partly down to the size which means that even if I have my sticks with me, it will do in my backpack.
My biggest concern over the Nano had been the size of the bobbins however my first spin has proved that I can get 54gm on one when spinning for a light 4 ply weight. the only drawback seems to be that take up onto the bobbin gets problematical once the bobbin is about 3/4 full. This has resulted in some over spun lengths :-(
On the plus size, it has proved to be perfect for taking out and about so I'm thinking that I might try spinning 25/30 gm to each bobbin then plying on the Ashford. The next thing to try will be plying from my Ashford lazy kate to save taking both sets away with me. If this approach works then I will order a few more bobbins before we hit the road again as the Nano is running very well on my phone charger and doesn't appear to be taking much power at all.
speak soon xx
A few years ago I watched a short you-tube video about a lady who had no crafting stash whatsoever. She simply bought all she needed to make an item, made the item and disposed of any oddments that were left.
Is this really a thing? do people do this?
After all, life would be a lot simpler, no storage issues for multiple crafts, no storage issues for even one craft although having the right equipment would still be a thing.
I've been thinking about this since I bought another lace pillow from a local charity shop. The new pillow fills a gap in my collection as it has a wider roller than my other pillows, has a built in stand and looks like it will be easier to use when making sample strips which I spend most of my time working on.
If lace making was my only hobby, you would think that storage would be easy but looking round my room from where I am sitting I can see six lace pillow of various sizes and types !! plus two boxes of bobbins, and threads, two shelves of books and files of patterns. I'm already in the realms of needing a cupboard for just one hobby.
This is the same for every craft that I do, cross stitch materials fill a large box and I have several ongoing projects.
Spinning wheels , I have three at the moment but countless fleeces both raw and washed waiting to be spun all the equipment to prep the fleece and countless spindles etc.. Inkle looms numbered four at the last count along with small looms and a Kromski rigid heddle that has sat in a bag since before covid.
Yarn, knitting needles, tatting shuttles , you name it and I have it and not to forget the four or five sewing machines lurking in the next room.
Sketch books, paints, books on assorted crafts and techniques that survived last years cull now fill shelves and cupboards.
Back to the question, does anyone only do one craft, only have one project on the go or do we all flit from one thing to the other? My current ongoing projects are a bobbin lace strip, two knitting projects, narrow band on the inkle loom for bracelets and a couple of cross stitch and embroidery pieces. Ooh and two latch hook cushion on the go.
All this leads to another question, when do hobbies split into two, for example, is collecting cross stitch patterns almost a separate hobby to stitching them?
And, dare I say it, when does it switch from hobby stash to hoarding?
Any thoughts on this?
Ona lighter note, the robins are nesting just outside the kitchen window :-)
