Showing posts with label yarn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label yarn. Show all posts
Thursday, July 14, 2016
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
Plain Socks with Fancy Yarn..
I haven't had the time to blog about anything for the past couple of weeks as I have a very poorly dog. Bella had no specific symptoms other than she was off her food a bit and seemed a bit unhappy and didn't want to go for walkies. Off to the vets for x-rays, scans and blood tests to discover she had 3 extremely large tumours on her spleen. She had a splenectomy the day after and has been recovering at home, she got her stitches taken out yesterday. Her diagnosis is large cell lymphoma, not good. Now we are just waiting for further tests to come back so we can decide on any further treatment or not.
On a lighter note, and as I've had plenty of knitting time while dog nursing, I got some beautiful sock yarn a few weeks ago. It's one of those self striping/patterning yarns and has a silver thread running through it. The yarn is Opal Happy Mit Silbereffekt, the colourway is called Surprise. I've used Opal yarn many times for socks, it's so hard wearing and is machine washable with no adverse effects. So plain and simple socks for this as I want to show off the yarn to it's best advantage.
There are ways of making a very plain sock a little bit fancy with tiny details that will finish it off.
For example when picking up the slip stitches along the sides of the heel flap I always knit into the back of those stitches because they are quite large ~ in doing this you twist the stitch and tighten it up, so no more holes. I also tend to pick up an extra stitch at the very end of this row, at the junction with the start of the top of foot stitches, this avoids a hole and it's no bother to work an extra decrease round while shaping the gusset to get rid of the extra stitch:
The last row of green stitches that you can see in the pic are the picked up and twisted stitches, see how it closes the gap nicely whilst forming neat little x's all along the row?
For the heel flap, a slip stitch heel is always my first choice.
Right side rows: Sl1, K1, repeat across the row
Wrong side rows: Sl1, purl to the end of the row
When grafting the toe, I make my kitchener stitches nice and loose ~ then go along the row to tighten them up carefully with a darning needle to match the tension of my knitting.
There you have it ~ a finished plain sock in fancy yarn. I'm hoping to motor through the second sock as there's something I'm really itching to knit:
The pattern is Grettir by Brooklyn Tweed.
This is what happens when I visit the wool shop when there's a sale on:
I'm going to use the Naturally Naturelle Aran weight in Bark for the body and Charcoal and cream for the yoke. I think I will have to dye one of the cream balls a light silver grey as a 3rd contrast colour. I fell in love with this yarn after knitting the bed socks with the DK version of it. It's very sheepy stuff, smells of lanolin and I love these natural colours.
I also bought more Earthwear possum sock yarn and some orange and grey 4 ply pure wool for a colour work hat and mitts set. Along with some Naturally Naturelle 4 ply in grey for a cardigan for myself.
On a lighter note, and as I've had plenty of knitting time while dog nursing, I got some beautiful sock yarn a few weeks ago. It's one of those self striping/patterning yarns and has a silver thread running through it. The yarn is Opal Happy Mit Silbereffekt, the colourway is called Surprise. I've used Opal yarn many times for socks, it's so hard wearing and is machine washable with no adverse effects. So plain and simple socks for this as I want to show off the yarn to it's best advantage.
There are ways of making a very plain sock a little bit fancy with tiny details that will finish it off.
For example when picking up the slip stitches along the sides of the heel flap I always knit into the back of those stitches because they are quite large ~ in doing this you twist the stitch and tighten it up, so no more holes. I also tend to pick up an extra stitch at the very end of this row, at the junction with the start of the top of foot stitches, this avoids a hole and it's no bother to work an extra decrease round while shaping the gusset to get rid of the extra stitch:
The last row of green stitches that you can see in the pic are the picked up and twisted stitches, see how it closes the gap nicely whilst forming neat little x's all along the row?
For the heel flap, a slip stitch heel is always my first choice.
Right side rows: Sl1, K1, repeat across the row
Wrong side rows: Sl1, purl to the end of the row
When grafting the toe, I make my kitchener stitches nice and loose ~ then go along the row to tighten them up carefully with a darning needle to match the tension of my knitting.
There you have it ~ a finished plain sock in fancy yarn. I'm hoping to motor through the second sock as there's something I'm really itching to knit:
The pattern is Grettir by Brooklyn Tweed.
This is what happens when I visit the wool shop when there's a sale on:
I'm going to use the Naturally Naturelle Aran weight in Bark for the body and Charcoal and cream for the yoke. I think I will have to dye one of the cream balls a light silver grey as a 3rd contrast colour. I fell in love with this yarn after knitting the bed socks with the DK version of it. It's very sheepy stuff, smells of lanolin and I love these natural colours.
I also bought more Earthwear possum sock yarn and some orange and grey 4 ply pure wool for a colour work hat and mitts set. Along with some Naturally Naturelle 4 ply in grey for a cardigan for myself.
Sunday, April 17, 2016
Another Finished Hat!
Well I'm quite enjoying this hat knitting run that I seem to be on now the weather is cooling down. I think it's because I just don't feel like starting a big project although I have quite a few sweaters queued up waiting to be knitted. Here's my second cabled slouch hat off the needles:
I made this one longer by doing 2 repeats of the cable pattern.
The yarn is Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Mink Heather, it took just under 100g.
Once the hat was finished I cast on for this scarf:
I've knit this pattern before, it's called Hypernova.
The yarn is Noro King which is a 4 ply/fingering weight yarn. I have 2 skeins and have been thinking about what to make with it for a long time.
The yarn is Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Mink Heather, it took just under 100g.
Once the hat was finished I cast on for this scarf:
The yarn is Noro King which is a 4 ply/fingering weight yarn. I have 2 skeins and have been thinking about what to make with it for a long time.
Monday, October 5, 2015
More Hand Spun Socks!
So, do you remember this skein of sock blend yarn that I spun and dyed a while back?
I over dyed it to make it darker so I could knit it into socks for my Husband - he wouldn't wear a lighter colour:
I'm really happy how this dye job turned out, a nice semi solid deep blue.
The pattern is Simple Skyp Socks. It's a simple 2 row pattern that looks more complicated than it is.
I have seed potatoes to plant today, as much as I would love to sit here knitting socks, sadly I can't!
I over dyed it to make it darker so I could knit it into socks for my Husband - he wouldn't wear a lighter colour:
The pattern is Simple Skyp Socks. It's a simple 2 row pattern that looks more complicated than it is.
I have seed potatoes to plant today, as much as I would love to sit here knitting socks, sadly I can't!
Thursday, September 17, 2015
Vintage Yarn ~ In Pinks!
I confess that I broke the yarn diet for a second time, but I had good reason ~ a small stash of vintage yarns that crossed my path, how could I say no?:
87g of Jamieson & Smith 2ply jumper weight in the bottom cake.
94g of the same yarn in a different colour (3 cakes) and a skein of Rowan 4ply Botany. Now don't they just go so well together?
I'm surprised to find that Jamieson & Smith still produce these 2 shades of heathery pinks.
This week's spinning project is ~ black Suri alpaca blended with merino and silk, beautiful fibre. I shall post pics tomorrow.
87g of Jamieson & Smith 2ply jumper weight in the bottom cake.
94g of the same yarn in a different colour (3 cakes) and a skein of Rowan 4ply Botany. Now don't they just go so well together?
I'm surprised to find that Jamieson & Smith still produce these 2 shades of heathery pinks.
This week's spinning project is ~ black Suri alpaca blended with merino and silk, beautiful fibre. I shall post pics tomorrow.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Birthday Flowers and Special Yarn...
I have always loved receiving birthday flowers, they make me smile right down to my toes and brighten up my day:
Special yarn, that I will admit, - when unwrapped made me smile all over again:
2 skeins of Wollmeise pure in Xaverl and Mauseschwanzchen.
What a gorgeous gift combo!
Friday, August 14, 2015
Spinning....again
Time goes by so quickly, it's quite a while since I posted here - my life has been very busy to say to the least. More home renovations, taking on more hours at the day job, family visiting from overseas, family emigrating from overseas, it's all been happening and it's been difficult to find any time to enjoy any crafting - only in the past couple of weeks have I had any 'me' time. So what did I do? I got the spinning wheel out of course.
I bought 100g of sock blend combed top, undyed, here's what I did with it:
I spun a very fine single then 'N' plyed it for a springy, soft and bouncy strong sock yarn.
After a visit to the dyepot:
350 mtrs of sock yarn, I enjoyed spinning it more than I thought I would. The fibre is 80% soft corriedale & 20% nylon.
Then I worked on spinning a small amount of merino that's for a challenge, I had 21g of it and spun it the same as the sock blend:
135 mtrs of lovely soft merino. Just got to decide what to make with it now, there's also a small skein of romney that I spun to go with it~
45g, 280 mtrs. 'N' plyed.
Now I'm working on finishing up some spinning that's been on the wheel for a very long time, I'm about halfway through spinning very fine singles as a gradient yarn. Once the singles are done they will be 'N' plyed to keep the colour changes nice and clean. photo's will follow of my progress.
I bought 100g of sock blend combed top, undyed, here's what I did with it:
I spun a very fine single then 'N' plyed it for a springy, soft and bouncy strong sock yarn.
After a visit to the dyepot:
350 mtrs of sock yarn, I enjoyed spinning it more than I thought I would. The fibre is 80% soft corriedale & 20% nylon.
Then I worked on spinning a small amount of merino that's for a challenge, I had 21g of it and spun it the same as the sock blend:
135 mtrs of lovely soft merino. Just got to decide what to make with it now, there's also a small skein of romney that I spun to go with it~
 |
45g, 280 mtrs. 'N' plyed.
Now I'm working on finishing up some spinning that's been on the wheel for a very long time, I'm about halfway through spinning very fine singles as a gradient yarn. Once the singles are done they will be 'N' plyed to keep the colour changes nice and clean. photo's will follow of my progress.
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
A Half Bred Fleece....
I needed a break from all the alpaca, so yesterday evening I was sorting out my stash cupboard when I came across a half bred fleece I had purchased last year, intending to wash and prep the fibre ready for spinning of course ~ until I got side tracked by all the alpaca.
Half Bred Sheep:
A registered breed that was originally developed in the 19th century by crossing one of the English long wools such as Romney or English Leicester with the merino. They were developed for both wool and meat and are suited to hill and high country.
The staples are well defined and chunky with crimp right up to the tip. It is classed as a fine wool with medium bulk. There can be wide variation amongst fleeces.
Fibre is usually between 21 - 33 microns.
staple length is 75-110 mm
An excellent fibre when soft durability is required.
It's a waxy type fleece so needs a good wash in very hot water.
I had already prepped a small portion of it and spun it up, but the majority was sat looking at me, so I bagged some up and put it in a bucket of hot water and dish washing liquid, soaked for 20 minutes then changed the water and soaked for a further 15 minutes then 2 rinses in hot water. I set it out on a mesh rack to dry overnight:
Obviously the locks on the left are unwashed, the ones on the right washed. They come up nice and clean apart from a tiny bit on the very tip which I snip off with scissors. The combed fibre is at the back, yet more beautiful squishy nests that I will look forward to spinning. I would say the fibre is next to skin soft for me, it's lofty and light and would knit into a nice comfortable, yet hard wearing sweater.
I enjoyed spinning some of it into a fingering weight 2 ply yarn:
I have 2.6kg of this to get through and have noticed there's very little waste when combing it. I shall continue to work on this when needing a break from the alpaca.
Half Bred Sheep:
A registered breed that was originally developed in the 19th century by crossing one of the English long wools such as Romney or English Leicester with the merino. They were developed for both wool and meat and are suited to hill and high country.
The staples are well defined and chunky with crimp right up to the tip. It is classed as a fine wool with medium bulk. There can be wide variation amongst fleeces.
Fibre is usually between 21 - 33 microns.
staple length is 75-110 mm
An excellent fibre when soft durability is required.
It's a waxy type fleece so needs a good wash in very hot water.
I had already prepped a small portion of it and spun it up, but the majority was sat looking at me, so I bagged some up and put it in a bucket of hot water and dish washing liquid, soaked for 20 minutes then changed the water and soaked for a further 15 minutes then 2 rinses in hot water. I set it out on a mesh rack to dry overnight:
Obviously the locks on the left are unwashed, the ones on the right washed. They come up nice and clean apart from a tiny bit on the very tip which I snip off with scissors. The combed fibre is at the back, yet more beautiful squishy nests that I will look forward to spinning. I would say the fibre is next to skin soft for me, it's lofty and light and would knit into a nice comfortable, yet hard wearing sweater.
I enjoyed spinning some of it into a fingering weight 2 ply yarn:
I have 2.6kg of this to get through and have noticed there's very little waste when combing it. I shall continue to work on this when needing a break from the alpaca.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)