Monica over at Lakeview Stitching, which is on my blog list here at the side, has brought up a wonderful idea. She is going to let the photos do the talking even though I love reading about the ins and outs of her thoughts on projects I so hope she will still blog like this occasionally.
So what has is made me think about? Well the fact that I often feel that I do not have much to say on a particular topic or whatever comes to mind lol ie I find it hard to make things sound interesting that are the more run of the mill things I do here like the blog post which will follow this one later in the week. Love scheduling them sometimes lol. What can I say about gardening, harvesting and cooking crops, playing with fluff, knitting on projects which turned out to be very long term late last year lol etc, etc, etc.
How am I going to fix this? I am going to join (pinch) Monica's idea and sometimes just drop some photos on here with very little words attached. I am also going to make an effort to remember those stitching (crafting) nights that I used to join in on and yes actually remember to sign up and post about whatever I choose to work on. Probably not much in the way of sewing or stitching but crochet and knitting and probably spinning will feature too lol. No surprises there.
Now I have managed to write something lol and have no pics! Never mind will be back with some later in the week.
Sunday, 18 January 2015
Tuesday, 13 January 2015
Fibre test romney x merino
Wendy from Benalla sent me this little parcel of romney cross merino to try and to let her know what I think of it so I have decided to blog the whole process from start to finish with photos for her.
So here we started off with the raw product and worked my way through to the finished skein of yarn and swatch.
Now for a raw fleece this is surprisingly clean! But I found this with Wendy's merino I got off her last year too.
Sun orchid and dusk are the colours I chose.
Here it is all fluffed up ready to go through the carder.
Two passes through the carder and I have these gorgeous balls of fluff!
All spun up and navaho plyed. It is a soft mottled mauve in colour and washed up beautifully.
So here we started off with the raw product and worked my way through to the finished skein of yarn and swatch.
Sunday, 11 January 2015
How time just seems to fly.....
over the last few weeks I have made some time to sit and spin up some singles and dyed some merino tops to pair with them. Its been pretty hot here as well as busy as usual. So many things to get done! and never enough time to do them in lol.
Firstly I would like to share my Christmas present. Fibre of course and from some very rare breed sheepies. I was also spoilt with some bubblebath and also some Lindt chocolates which are my favourites.
These will be lovely to spin up and ply with a soft alpaca/merino blend that I will dye to match. Makes these purchased ones go so much further that way.
On the knitting front I have finally found some energy to actually knit again of an evening and am back working on the bands of Sarah's black jacket. Just reached the halfway point with the 1x1 rib band and must say that my new needles are making it a lot easier and quicker. Last year I bought Addi lace turbo needles in small sizes ie the ones with the gold tips and found it offered a lot less drag and were so much quicker. The Addi ones have a fixed cable but I bought the really long ones so they will be useful for any project I might like to do. I spied a set of large size Chaiogoo interchangables going out the door for a very special price so I grabbed them to finish off the collection. These needles are lovely to use and just as quick but they are a little more clicky (noisy) than the gold tips of the Addi. Never mind lol Lance will just have to turn up the tv a little when I really get flying with them.
As for actual fibre work I have been washing up nearly all those freebie fleeces I received a few months back so can get that all safely packed away in the shed. There is now a very useful reason why we have days in the 40's! Fluff dries in no time. I have also pinched mum's drum carder and blended a lot of fibre on it for her pre Christmas and will now be able to start on some of that stuff I washed up!
Here's some 19micron merino that I have dyed to spin and ply with some of the club fibre I have already spun up. So lovely, soft and smooshy.
Now here's a pic of the December club fibre and while I have enjoyed spinning it up I really don't want to ply the two together. The batts are quite arty and really don't want to ply it with its matching braid. If I decide to join the clubs again I might not worry about the batt one as they are very textured and it isnt really me.
Here are the November club fibres which look to be a much better match and depending on how the batt spins up I will happily put them together. I am still wondering if the December ones were a bit of a stuff up in the bagging process but thats okay.
Smaug club is also spun up and ready to be washed and put into use. I think I might have already shared this one but love it. The batt was highly textured and the braid a lot smoother but both matched beautifully. Smaug I believe is a dragon in a tv or movie series. Don't know much about it really but hence the dark, sparkly and firey colours.
There is also another 250gm bobbin of the shropshire sock blend finished and waiting to be washed and dyed. I have another bag of fibre to go and then I will dye it all up together and knit work socks for Lance.
This is currently on the wheel and nearly finished. A beautiful red blend of fibres from a friend on our facebook fibre group. Absolutely beautiful! I'm not sure if I will choose red or black to go with it yet.
Well I think that is a big enough update for now. Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a happy start to a wonderful New Year!
Firstly I would like to share my Christmas present. Fibre of course and from some very rare breed sheepies. I was also spoilt with some bubblebath and also some Lindt chocolates which are my favourites.
These will be lovely to spin up and ply with a soft alpaca/merino blend that I will dye to match. Makes these purchased ones go so much further that way.
On the knitting front I have finally found some energy to actually knit again of an evening and am back working on the bands of Sarah's black jacket. Just reached the halfway point with the 1x1 rib band and must say that my new needles are making it a lot easier and quicker. Last year I bought Addi lace turbo needles in small sizes ie the ones with the gold tips and found it offered a lot less drag and were so much quicker. The Addi ones have a fixed cable but I bought the really long ones so they will be useful for any project I might like to do. I spied a set of large size Chaiogoo interchangables going out the door for a very special price so I grabbed them to finish off the collection. These needles are lovely to use and just as quick but they are a little more clicky (noisy) than the gold tips of the Addi. Never mind lol Lance will just have to turn up the tv a little when I really get flying with them.
As for actual fibre work I have been washing up nearly all those freebie fleeces I received a few months back so can get that all safely packed away in the shed. There is now a very useful reason why we have days in the 40's! Fluff dries in no time. I have also pinched mum's drum carder and blended a lot of fibre on it for her pre Christmas and will now be able to start on some of that stuff I washed up!
Here's some 19micron merino that I have dyed to spin and ply with some of the club fibre I have already spun up. So lovely, soft and smooshy.
Now here's a pic of the December club fibre and while I have enjoyed spinning it up I really don't want to ply the two together. The batts are quite arty and really don't want to ply it with its matching braid. If I decide to join the clubs again I might not worry about the batt one as they are very textured and it isnt really me.
Here are the November club fibres which look to be a much better match and depending on how the batt spins up I will happily put them together. I am still wondering if the December ones were a bit of a stuff up in the bagging process but thats okay.
Smaug club is also spun up and ready to be washed and put into use. I think I might have already shared this one but love it. The batt was highly textured and the braid a lot smoother but both matched beautifully. Smaug I believe is a dragon in a tv or movie series. Don't know much about it really but hence the dark, sparkly and firey colours.
There is also another 250gm bobbin of the shropshire sock blend finished and waiting to be washed and dyed. I have another bag of fibre to go and then I will dye it all up together and knit work socks for Lance.
This is currently on the wheel and nearly finished. A beautiful red blend of fibres from a friend on our facebook fibre group. Absolutely beautiful! I'm not sure if I will choose red or black to go with it yet.
Well I think that is a big enough update for now. Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a happy start to a wonderful New Year!
Saturday, 20 December 2014
Wow where has the time gone.....
Again things have managed to get away from me. There has been next to no knitting to show as I have been either flat out with things or too tired to do any. Hopefully things will improve now that I have had a procedure done to rectify some of it.
Lance and I also celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary at the end of November. Went out for tea with the girls and had a lovely time.
Well there has been some more club fibre arrive and I have done some spinning of it as well.
These two have been spun up separately and plyed together. Still to be skeined off and washed but very happy with it. I have enjoyed the clubs surprise fibre over the last three months. Sadly it is now at an end as I have decided not to sign up again just yet. Mainly due to the amount of fibre which has been given to me this year in the way of free alpaca and merino cross coloured fleeces.
This lot has been overdyed with a pale blue/grey this morning and looks fantastic. It is from the first club lot that arrived and I plyed it with some tussah silk leftover from another project.
Yet to be spun is this blend. There is a batt and braid that match just like the smaug one above. The braid is a lovely colourway. Somehow I have neglected to take a pic of it but this photo doesn't do it justice.
I have also finished spinning and dyeing one lot of sock wool from Shropshire sheep. There is a few more lots to be done which will end up as work socks for Lance. The wool spun from these sheep is nowhere near as soft as merino but it is equally as warm and thick and much more harder wearing for the inside of boots.
Plus I have begun to wash up all those gifted fleeces now that it is a lot hotter and the vege garden is really taking off too.
Sarah, our eldest, has had her graduation and very successfully completed her VCE exams with excellent results. So in about 6 years time we will all be able to call her Dr Sarah lol. Masters in Psychology with a PhD at the end of it is going to be a very long haul but one that she will thrive in as Sarah has the brains and dedication to do well.
Grace has also just begun Year 11 and will complete over the next 12 months a Vet course in music. Grace is looking at music therapy or something animal related and absolutely loves biology.
We have also had two sneaky snakes. One that I managed to nearly step on twice in two days! In thongs. Haven't seen them since buying big gumboots and putting shovels at both the front and back door. They either fell off a havester going through town or perhaps even travelled up from the river nearby. Either way they are the first we have seen in 17 years and believe me when I say it took me three weeks before I would garden or walk through the garden area to turn on a tap without the gumboots and shovel. Pretty relaxed about it now but I do keep a very close eye on things.
Here's a couple of Christmas things my mum has made for us. There is a lovely wall hanging too which I will share next time.
Also just finished off laying some flooring in the laundry/toilet area myself ready for the washing machine to empty all over it and out onto the kitchen floor! Yes here comes another lot of work through insurance....you should have heard me last Saturday when the machine was no longer filling the bowl but filling the aircon vent in the floor! Fixed that pretty quickly and had aircon after 30 mins but now I am waiting for a new machine, vac, bread maker, large toast/grill and a cupboard to be replaced along with the flooring fixed. I never run a wash while out of the house for a very good reason and this is why. If I hadn't been home it would have continued to run water until it was shut off. Imagine the mess then and definitely no air con as it is under the floor!
Well after reading all this I suppose I have achieved a lot in my days but just don't really have much to show on here lol. I think it is about time I did some blog visiting too to see what you have been up to too.
So I will say Merry Christmas everyone and have a happy, healthy New Year!
Lance and I also celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary at the end of November. Went out for tea with the girls and had a lovely time.
Well there has been some more club fibre arrive and I have done some spinning of it as well.
These two have been spun up separately and plyed together. Still to be skeined off and washed but very happy with it. I have enjoyed the clubs surprise fibre over the last three months. Sadly it is now at an end as I have decided not to sign up again just yet. Mainly due to the amount of fibre which has been given to me this year in the way of free alpaca and merino cross coloured fleeces.
This lot has been overdyed with a pale blue/grey this morning and looks fantastic. It is from the first club lot that arrived and I plyed it with some tussah silk leftover from another project.
Yet to be spun is this blend. There is a batt and braid that match just like the smaug one above. The braid is a lovely colourway. Somehow I have neglected to take a pic of it but this photo doesn't do it justice.
I have also finished spinning and dyeing one lot of sock wool from Shropshire sheep. There is a few more lots to be done which will end up as work socks for Lance. The wool spun from these sheep is nowhere near as soft as merino but it is equally as warm and thick and much more harder wearing for the inside of boots.
Plus I have begun to wash up all those gifted fleeces now that it is a lot hotter and the vege garden is really taking off too.
Sarah, our eldest, has had her graduation and very successfully completed her VCE exams with excellent results. So in about 6 years time we will all be able to call her Dr Sarah lol. Masters in Psychology with a PhD at the end of it is going to be a very long haul but one that she will thrive in as Sarah has the brains and dedication to do well.
Grace has also just begun Year 11 and will complete over the next 12 months a Vet course in music. Grace is looking at music therapy or something animal related and absolutely loves biology.
We have also had two sneaky snakes. One that I managed to nearly step on twice in two days! In thongs. Haven't seen them since buying big gumboots and putting shovels at both the front and back door. They either fell off a havester going through town or perhaps even travelled up from the river nearby. Either way they are the first we have seen in 17 years and believe me when I say it took me three weeks before I would garden or walk through the garden area to turn on a tap without the gumboots and shovel. Pretty relaxed about it now but I do keep a very close eye on things.
Here's a couple of Christmas things my mum has made for us. There is a lovely wall hanging too which I will share next time.
Also just finished off laying some flooring in the laundry/toilet area myself ready for the washing machine to empty all over it and out onto the kitchen floor! Yes here comes another lot of work through insurance....you should have heard me last Saturday when the machine was no longer filling the bowl but filling the aircon vent in the floor! Fixed that pretty quickly and had aircon after 30 mins but now I am waiting for a new machine, vac, bread maker, large toast/grill and a cupboard to be replaced along with the flooring fixed. I never run a wash while out of the house for a very good reason and this is why. If I hadn't been home it would have continued to run water until it was shut off. Imagine the mess then and definitely no air con as it is under the floor!
Well after reading all this I suppose I have achieved a lot in my days but just don't really have much to show on here lol. I think it is about time I did some blog visiting too to see what you have been up to too.
So I will say Merry Christmas everyone and have a happy, healthy New Year!
Sunday, 9 November 2014
Spinning update
While working on more of the white jumper lot I also finished off these.
Bendigo Woollen Mills merino/bamboo blend with mohair and English leicester. Dyed by me!
Ixchel bunny top with Bison, angora, baby camel, cashmere, merino, tencel plyed with grey alpaca.
Spin in at Benalla
Well I had a wonderful time at Wendy's farm with a visit to the shearing shed, alpacas and of course the sheep. It was a very warm day so we stayed inside to spin and talk and enjoyed the view of the hills through the window. I didn't think to take a camera with me so I am sharing some photos that others have taken. Really looking forward to the next one which might not be until March next year.
Ixchel Club Fibre
The two fibre clubs I joined arrived a couple of weeks ago and I spent last Saturday spinning them up while enjoying a spinning day with my Mum and over the remainder of this week before heading off to a spin in over at Benalla yesterday. More on that later.
At the moment they are still singles and will need to be plyed with something else. I am thinking a blend of grey merino and grey alpaca for both. Both the batt and the braid had lots of bling in them and while I loved spinning both I am happier with the braid as the other has spun up more 'arty' than I was expecting due to lots of sari silk threads and neps in the middle of the batt. It is gorgeous and soft but very different. But that is the reason behind joining in the clubs over three months because they will be completely different to what I normally would spin and also experiencing different fibres as sometimes it is the fibre that dictates how thick or thin or how much twist etc you need to use as I thought initially I would be able to spin the batt as a thin single rather than the thickish one I have ended up with.
Fibre content: angora, stainless steel, silk, eco merino, rose, suri, silk, hemp, cashmire and angelina
Fibre content: eco merino, cashmere, glitz, suri, silk, angora and alpaca
At the moment they are still singles and will need to be plyed with something else. I am thinking a blend of grey merino and grey alpaca for both. Both the batt and the braid had lots of bling in them and while I loved spinning both I am happier with the braid as the other has spun up more 'arty' than I was expecting due to lots of sari silk threads and neps in the middle of the batt. It is gorgeous and soft but very different. But that is the reason behind joining in the clubs over three months because they will be completely different to what I normally would spin and also experiencing different fibres as sometimes it is the fibre that dictates how thick or thin or how much twist etc you need to use as I thought initially I would be able to spin the batt as a thin single rather than the thickish one I have ended up with.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)