Category Archives: Projects

Having a play with carding

A couple of weeks ago Lisa very kindly brought her new-to-her drum carder along to spinning group and let me have a play with it.

I think my carding technique needs improvement but it was a lot of fun! I had two shades of red merino fibre which I blended together. Both from Fibrecrafts, the darker colour is called Crimson, and the brighter one Scarlet.

Here is a very bad picture of the two different colours, the darker on the left, the brighter on the right.

And here is one of the carded batts. I did just one pass, and put the colours in in layers so you can’t see the blended colours particularly well here.

There are a few knobbly bits where my feeding onto the carder wasn’t particularly good, and they have made the spinning a little bit lumpy (along with my general inexperience). I have started spinning the singles, and have done about half now. I am hoping to do a bit more of this over Christmas.

Hopefully you can sort of see the two colours. It is eventually going to be a 3ply, hopefully about DK weight, and become part of my handspun leaves waistcoat. I must assess the yarn I have spun so far for that, and see how I am doing.

Black Shetland

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I have finally finished spinning the black Shetland fibre I bought as something to practice with while I got used to Susie. This was very nice to spin, very easy even for a beginner. The yarn is a 3ply and is a thinnish DK weight, it is a bit wobbly but I am getting better! It is going to be part of my handspun leaves waistcoat.

I thoroughly tested the capacity of my bobbins while plying, and was very impressed to get 190g on one bobbin! This is about twice the amount I could get on the Ashford.

Altogether I have 303g and 741m.

I am going to go and wind it into balls now so it will be ready to knit with.

Handspun leaves waistcoat

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One of my contributions to the Show and Tell at this years patchwork knitting workshop was the start of this waistcoat.

The grand plan is to make something using some of my first few bits of spinning. To give it a moderately coherent look I am going to stick to natural shades of brown and black, and some reds which I have dyed.

The modules are reversible ribbed leaf shapes which I first saw at a workshop with Horst Schulz three or four years ago. I don’t think it is in any of his books, and the notes I have taken are a bit on the sketchy side! The safety pin stuck in the brown alpaca leaf is to remind me which is the right side. Although the pattern is reversible, I wanted to be consistent with always starting a new leaf on the same side, and it was getting a bit time consuming to have to work it out each time. The waistcoat has actually looked the same since the workshop while I spin a bit more yarn to add to it. I thought I had loads of yarn when I started, but once I collected it together it wasn’t quite as much, or as much variety as I had first thought! I have just finished some black shetland and some dark brown alpaca which will go into it too. I am trying to make it a random collection of colours, not in any particular pattern, but I’m not terribly good at random.

Luckily this pattern is quite forgiving of my rather inconsistent handspun, some of them are quite a bit thicker than others, and the brown alpaca with the safety pin is very dense! I am going to try and spread out my earlier yarns among my later ones so the finished article isn’t too lopsided.

Yet another shade of orange (and another green)

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I have been playing with the dyes again for my stranded knitting project. One more orange and one more green.

This is the new orange between its two immediate neighbours.

The Kemtex Acid Dye in Yellow is definitely not as bright as the Jacquard Bright Yellow. They do have another range called Kenanthrol acid dyes, which have a variety of shades of yellow. I’m not sure what is the difference between them and the Kemtex acid dyes, but they might be worth investigating in future.

I think I have got the 12 colours for the background sorted now.

The new green was another experiment for a foreground colour. I think this one is very pretty but is too yellow for this project.

Here is the new green in the middle, with last experimental green on the left, and the original green I used for the knitted sample on the right.

I think I am going to have another attempt at dyeing a green which is more similar in colour to the one on the right, but more solid than I have so far managed with the Jacquard acid dyes. I do rather like the bluer one on the left though, it makes a good contrast with all the oranges and I think it is a definite contender.

I have now measured my tension from my sample, and started working out the charts – I think this will be quite a long process! I have a rough idea of how the patterns should fit in, and have worked out most of the logistics on my rough sketch. The charts themselves will take a while though, I am using excel and am not particularly fast. Have any of you used any of the knitting charting programs out there? If so what do you think of them? I have been looking at Knit Visualizer and have just downloaded the demo to have a play with. The details of how I am going to do the shaping will take some working out too! Hopefully I will actually be able to cast on for the real thing fairly soon.

More shades of orange

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On Monday last week I had another play with the dyes to see if I could make another pale orange and another mid orange for my Autumn in Anatolia jumper. While I was at it I also had another go at a green for the foreground.

These were the three colours I dyed. I am having a lot of trouble photographing them accurately, but this is fairly close.

The mid orange is good I think. I am a little concerned that the palest orange is actually nigh-on indistinguishable from yellow. The green is a beautiful colour, but I think still too blue.

Here is the new pale orange with the other colours it will be with in the sequence (the new colour is in the middle).

And here are the mid oranges. Again the new colour is in the middle.

Here is the new green on the right along with the last green I attempted on the left, which is 400ml of 1% stock solution of Kemtex acid dye in green, and which as you can see is a very bluey green. Then at the bottom is Jacquard Emerald Green, which is a lovely colour, but I had trouble with it being a bit blotchy. The Kemtex does dye very evenly and exhausts very well (which is very satisfying 🙂 ). The new green is 300ml of green and 100ml of yellow. For my next trick I think I shall try 200ml of green and 200ml of yellow.

Just for fun, here is the sequence of colours laid out on our dining table. As you can tell we don’t eat on the table often 🙂

I think I shall have another go at dyeing a pale orange since I think that step is still a bit big. I think the mid orange is ok, and I shall try to get a slightly yellower green.

While I had the dyes out I had a go at semi-solid dyeing my Dorset/BFL sock yarn I spun during the Tour de Fleece. I did this using a variation on the dyeing in a bag method Fiona showed us at her workshop. Her method was a cold dyeing method, but it adapted easily enough for hot dyeing. Boil in the bag yarn! I put the dye and the yarn in the bag and squished around, then left for about an hour and then steamed it as usual.

There was 250g altogether of yarn which I think was a bit much for my bag. I couldn’t mash the yarn round as much as I would like, so some of the skeins are more evenly dyed than others. The two smaller skeins dyed much more evenly, with the biggest skein being the most mottled. I like the effect though.

It was also interesting to see how the Dorset took the dye in comparison to the BFL. As you can see from this picture, the Dorset has taken the dye a bit (both the grey and the white) but not nearly as strongly as the BFL.

I am looking forward to knitting this up and seeing how it comes out.

Le Tour de Fleece: Day Seven

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The cyclists did their biggest climb so far this tour, into Andorra, and I have crested my own little summit with my spinning.

I have finished my first full bobbin of the tour. Yes, the grey Dorset is finally finished! Only two bobbins of the white to go and then I can ply it and see what it will be like as yarn.

In honour of the occaision I have been playing at making mosaics with Picasa 3. So here is a recap of my progress on this yarn on the tour.

And another, because if a thing is worth doing, it is worth overdoing.

I ran my foot over with our side gate shortly after taking these photos while having a quick tidy up outside. It is a nice substantial gate. I am hopping around now (well not right now, since even with the laptop I can’t type and hop at the same time). I shall go and bathe it and anoint it in a minute.

I have been managing to do a spot of knitting in between all the spinning. I have finally finished my latest test sample for my current City and Guilds project. I was test driving how the colours work, and also testing 6 possible patterns, of which I will probably use 3. This is the project I have been dyeing all the colours for.

This is it in its unblocked, straight off the needles state.

These are the most likely 3 patterns.

And these are the three probably rejects.

As you can see the edging at the bottom edge is too loose. I think the top edge is better but now probably a bit tight. I am reserving final judgement until after it has been washed. The top edging is worked on smaller needles, which I think works well, but I think I decreased too many stitches.

I also think I need to introduce another couple of intermediate colours. Another medium orange about half way up to ease the transition from red to orange, and a very pale orange just before the yellow. It is coming along though, and I am looking forward to being able to measure the tension after it has been washed and start plotting out the final design.

Teal Top Finished!

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I finished the Teal Top on Saturday but it has taken until today before the weather has been decent enough for a photograph.

Apologies that it looks a little wrinkly, I had just sat in the car for an hour on the way back from knitting group.

For a quick re-cap:

The yarn used is Paton’s Washed Haze DK, 50% cotton, 50% acrylic, bought from the Interknit Cafe in Farnham. I used 3.75mm needles. The pattern is called Go Vertical by Classic Elite, but I re-calculated the whole pattern, due to achieving a different tension with my yarn to that called for in the pattern, and me being a different shape and proportion to any of the pattern sizes.

All in all, I am very pleased with how it has come out. The yarn was pleasant to knit with and feels nice and soft once knitted up. The only problem I had with it was a slight tendency for the yarn to un-spin while I was trying to sew the seams. I am pleased with the fit, and it has been a good opportunity to test drive the set-in sleeve calculations that we have been learning in City and Guilds class. After all the worrying about whether I would have enough yarn, in the end I only used about 8 1/2 balls, so I have one full ball left over and once partial ball. I have been wearing the top all today and it is very comfy so far!

Bizarre Weather

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We seem to have had all the seasons in the last week. Last Friday was beautiful, and warm enough that I didn’t need a jumper. Saturday was windy and later wet. We went to Knole and then down to Pevensey, I did take a couple of pictures but they were awful and dark so I wont subject you to them. Then on Sunday morning we woke up to a light dusting of snow! It is the first time this winter we have had snow that settled, admittedly only about an inch though, and it was gone by the evening. This week has been cold but clear so far. In a fit of pique last week I turned the heating off but on Sunday I had to give in and put it back on again.

This is also a week full of knitting things. On Tuesday morning I went down to Farnham for a talk by Joyce Meader on Commercially Printed Knitting Patterns from 1840 which she gave to the West Surrey Guild of Spinners Weavers and Dyers. The talk was fascinating and hilarious. The men’s string vest and matching pants (that is underpants for those across the pond) had to be seen to be believed! Joyce is a great speaker, and she kindly brought along some of her collection of historic knitting patterns, and also garments she has knitted from them. As well as original knitting patterns, Joyce also brought some facsimile editions produced by Iva Rose Vintage Reproductions. Amazing patterns, and a lot of them are surprisingly wearable today. I love old patterns, particularly those from the 30s and the 50s. 6 books from Iva Rose are already winging their way over the sea to me 🙂 Including two from the 1890s.

Talking of vintage patterns, I have recently got a bee in my bonnet about knitting at the Great Exhibition (Crystal Palace) of 1851. I know that there was knitting exhibited since I have seen it mentioned (I think in the V&A – which incidentally was set up with items from the Great Exhibition). Iva Rose Reproductions don’t go back that early, but according to Joyce commercially published knitting patterns exist from as far back as 1817. I would love to know more both about the knitting that was actually exhibited in 1851 and also what was going on in the craft at the time. If anyone has any pointers I would love to hear from you.

To continue my busy knitting week, the Reading group has its April meeting on Saturday, and then on Sunday, the Surrey and Hampshire Ravelry group are meeting in Guildford. This is all shockingly sociable 🙂

Progress is being made on the Teal Top too. I have now finished the front! and the shoulders are connected with a 3-needle cast off.

I am cautiously optimistic about the yarn quantity situation. I am now on the first sleeve and am on ball 8 (out of 10) but things are looking quite good.

Once I completed the 3-needle cast off to join the shoulders, I pinned the sides together and had a quick try-on. I think it is going to be good, although it is hard to tell properly without the seams sewn and the sleeves in. I have been using the instructions Fiona gave us in City and Guilds class for calculating a set in sleeve garment, and it has been useful to be able to give it a dry run before I try it out on my assessed project. So far so good.

Apologies that the Emerald Beaded Bracelet Pattern isn’t up yet. I have been having some computer difficulties. I’ve lost track of how many times I have rebooted over the last couple of days! After many rude words and several cups of tea I have now managed to upload photos to the blog again (oh the delights of upgrading), and literally as I am typing this I seem to have cracked my pdf upload problems (although I’m not sure how, I wont argue though). So the pattern will be available in just a minute.

Racing along with new specs

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Well they aren’t really connected but never mind.

I am racing along with the Teal Top, I have finished the back, and have just started the waist shaping on the front.

I am still really enjoying it, and it is lovely to be able to actually see progress! I am also really looking forward to wearing it, I think it will be a really useful wardrobe item and very comfy.

The only problem is that I am becoming worried about the amount of yarn I will need. I bought 10 balls because that was what was available in the same dye lot, but I have just started the 5th ball, which means that the back used slightly more then 3 1/2 balls. I think it will be very close as to whether I will have enough or not. I went down to the Interknit Cafe yesterday just to double check that there weren’t any more ballsÂ left of the dye lot that I had got, but there weren’t. She had 4 balls of a second dye lot, but as she saidÂ this was a colour that she would keep in stock, and that whatever I getÂ wontÂ match the first dye lot I thought I would knit on for a bit until I have more of an idea of exactly how many extra balls I will need. If I am fairlyÂ close then IÂ can just undoÂ my tension swatch andÂ use that yarn, or can use a different dye lot for the neck band. We shall see. It isÂ strange how knowing thatÂ the yarnÂ quantity is going to be a bit tight makes you knit faster 🙂 I’m not convinced that quicker knitting is going to help!

On my way down to Farnham yesterday I dropped into Specsavers in Guildford to pick up my new glasses. They are quite different to my last set and Paul is still getting used to them 🙂

First up, the more sensible pair:

And now the fun pair:

And finally, to make you smile on a wet Saturday, this is the most hilarious of the out-takes,Â and the reason that I really shouldn’t be allowed out:

Paul had just said “less teeth” and I’m afraid that was what he got. It rather reminds me of the old Maltersers advert with the wide mouthed frog and the crocodile 🙂

Happy Easter!

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I can’t believe it has been nearly two months now since I last posted, time has certainly been moving very quickly around here.

There have been some very long workdays (and evenings and weekends) here in the last couple of months, but I am very happy that I have now caught up with all the desperate stuff, and am left with catching up on my City and Guilds homework and plodding along with the Great Tidy Up of 2008, and catching up on emails and ravelry.

There hasn’t been an awful lot of knitting going on, apart from some socks and my samples for my course homework. My knitting seems to be a good barometer for how I am feeling, I like to knit socks when I am tired, they are lovely and therapeutic as you knit round and round, and also nice and portable. It has been interesting to see that as things have started to calm down, although I am still knitting socks I have branched out a little from my very boring rib socks. Now I think I am ready for some knitting which actually requires my brain 🙂 The main problem I am having is stopping myself from casting on for a thousand things all at once.

My resistance has been quite strong, but I have succombed to the lure of a T-shirt. The pattern is called Go Vertical and is from Classic Elite and I bought itÂ on a trip toÂ the US several years ago, but have been waiting for the right yarn. A couple of weeks ago I found it, in the Interknit Cafe in Farnham. The yarn is Patons Washed Haze, and is a DK weight, 50% cotton, 50% acrylic. It is not as hand-killingly inelastic as a 100% cotton yarn, and is also lighter and a bit more flexible, yet not as plasticy and sweaty as a 100% acrylic, so the best of both worlds! It is nice to be working in a DK weight yarn for a change, since I can actually see progress. I have got a little carried away with it over the weekend and have knitted up past the waist shaping on the back, my shoulders are protesting a little so I will try and add in some other knitting for a change.

The pattern itself is multi-gauge which is a really good idea – the same pattern with variations of sleeve-length and neckline, written for four different tensions. Unfortunately in typical Heather fashion, the tension I get with my yarn is none of those given. Also the sizing on the pattern assumes that the wearer has a larger chest than tummy which sadly I don’t 🙂 So I have spent the weekend happily with my calculator working out the numbers which will hopefully generate a top which will fit me (if not I will be quite cross!).

I will end the suspense now and show you the progress so far.

First my swatch:

This is the progress so far:

And this is a detail of the waist shaping:

I am going to go and organise some of the sock pictures for future posts. I seem to have a lot of future posts backed up now, unfortunately they are almost all in my head rather than on the computer. I could do with a cable like the camera has so that I can plug myself in and download my brain (or what is left of it!)