Fraggletastic revisited

A lovely lady on Ravelry saw the "FraggleTastic" handspun I made for my friend Helen, and asked me to make her some, but in a thinner gauge.

I tried reallyReallyREALLY hard to get it to the WPI she wanted.... ;)

Anyway, this beauty is now on the way to America, and the rest of the Supersorted BFL I dyed to make it will be spun up to go and follow it's sister a little later on...it was hard going, so I need a break ;)

There's about 148g over 2 skeins, roughly light DK weight...which isn't bad yardage for me...but still not enough for the customer ;)

Hayley Too

"Rambo's Whirled"

"Hayley Too"

This hat pattern is my contribution to the 4!Oz!Challenge!, I WILL write it up, promise!
I have already made one using the challenge yarn, but it needed another handspun test knit, so I chose this yarn for it, a 3ply, made from ITW Merino “Emerald City” and some Rambo from Julie Spins.

I am so glad I did, as it’s knitted up wonderfully and I am now wishing for cold weather so I can wear it all the time :D

Hayley

So.

This is what I came up with to compliment my 4! Ounce! Challenge! Handspun.

Called her "Hayley", because the idea was conceived whilst on a beach in Hayle, watching all 3 of my beautiful boys having the time of their lives in the sea.

Now, as you know, I test knit hats for the venerable WoollyWormhead, and I have to say I was a bit worried that this looked a lot like one of hers, but when you have a friend who is one of the most innovative hat designers ever, it'd be hard not to design something totally different.

I am not really a pattern designer, but when I do dip my toes in to the arena, I do it with care.

This hat flew out of my brain and onto the needles, no question, the yarn knew what it wanted to be.

It is my design, 100%, as it was designed for the yarn I spun from scratch.

It does translate over to millspun, as I test knitted it twice with some Radiance I took with me on holiday, but they don't drape and shine like this one does. They don't have the uniqueness of pure inspiration this one does.

I'll be writing the pattern up over the next week or so, as my deadline to be eligible to be a player for nice prizes is the end of September.

It'd be nice to win a prize, don't get me wrong, everyone likes to win something and be recognised for their work...but I took part in this challenge for me.

To see if I could do something like this, from start to finish, without having to invent some elaborate wimping out excuse and then hide for a while so peeps could forget I said I'd do something when I couldn't ;)

HaHa....that's me...I am an artist you know, dahhhling ;)

4! Ounce! Challenge!.....progress pics......

(L to R) Hello Yarn “Air” (merino/tencel) SCF “Hades” (Polwarth/tencel) and Spunky Eclectic “Algae” (Merino/Bamboo)

Plying it right now….well, uh…not right now, but I took a break from plying to share :D
The Polwarth/tencel just shines I mean reallyReallyREALLY shines……it’s impossible to capture it in the light we have here at the moment…and I just loved spinning it…so smooth and yummeh and almost biblical ;)
Hehehe…

Cannot wait to finish it, it really is all over the place SHINY!!!

xXx

Rambo's Whirled :)

The Ingredients: Merino from Into the Whirled and Rambouillet from JulieSpins

One Bobbin down.....sheesh this took forever!!! Well, that was until I found out I could spin properly on my Matchless.....hahaha.....

This yarn is IMMENSE!!!

There's 225 g and 500yds/462m (approx) over 2 skeins...and the colours are just amazing.

The ingredients were of the highest quality...little or no spinners waste from either set of hand dyed rovings. I can't rate Cris or Julie highly enough...*grin*

Anyway, it took me ages to get going with it, but once I finally realised that trying to spin on a Matchless like I was spinning on a Louet S10 was totally the wrong way to go....I motored through it :)

It is reallyReallyREALLY bouncy too, because of the Rambouillet.....so it will knit up beautifully :)

I think it's safe to say things have totally clicked now with my new wheel.....

HuRRaH HuRRaH HuRRaH

Fraggle~Tastic :D

(L to R) "Gloria", solid burgundy merino, "Rainbow Brite"

A good friend of mine asked me to create something "Fraggle Rock" inspired for her. I think she was expecting hand dyed tops, so she could spin them for herself, but I decided I wanted to try out my new fibre base, the SuperSorted BFL, so I spun it up for her myself.

The SuperSorted BFL was a real dream to work with, not at all sheepy like regular BFL and a lot finer, but with the added bonus of the long staple.

Perfect for a lazy ass spinner like me ;)

She got one skein (the heavier of the two) and I have the other one here.

Harvest festival

This is the first yarn spun on my new wheel...well, 2 of the plies were, the other I'd already spun on Robin. It's made up of one ply merino~silk, one of Polwarth~silk and the other of Sparkle Fibre(merino, silk, nylon and silver sparkle)....

There's 269g, across 3 skeins, with a total of 626 yds/ 568 m (approx)

It's so soft... :)

Latest HandSpun :)

This is called “Ice Queen” and it’s made up of one ply of FatCatKnits Merino~Tencel (Timber), one of MerinoBoo from Spunky Eclectic and a final one of space spun solid Merino, so it will subtly self~stripe :)
There’s approx 225 yds/206 m and 130g.

This is called “Peach Stone” :)
There’s on ply of a merino/corrie blend from SCF, one of some MerinoBoo from FatCatKnits and then a solid ply of peach merino. It’s turned out waaaAAAY too peachy for me, so not really that enamoured with it…
There’s 146g of it, approx 248 yds/227 m…..DK/Worsted weight.

I like this one much more :)
It’s called “Celebrity Masterchef II" and contains one ply of merino from SCF, one of MerinoBoo from Spunky Eclectic and then one of Merino~Tencel from FatCatKnits……
It’s a real cornucopia of complementary colours, but it should subtly self stripe because of the ply of SCF..
I havn’t measured it or anything yet, but there’s about 150g….

All of these yarns will be available to buy on my stand at Make, Do and Knit this coming weekend, and then if I come home with them they will go in the shop :)

Noma

This is Noma, a hat designed in my handspun, by WoollyWormhead. It has just been published in Issue 127 of the Knitting and Crochet Guild's magazine, SlipKnot along with my very first print advertisement!! Heehee.....
It is knit completely in Garter stitch, which shows the depth of colour in the yarn beautifully, and as well as the pattern there is a short article about head measuring and getting a good fit for Hats.
You may recognise the handspun, as I made Dulcie from "Going Straight" with the other skein ;)

"BudgieBoo" Guimauve

I have wanted to make this hat since WoollyWormhead's book "Going Straight" was first published, but never quite had the perfect yarn for it.



I spun this yarn a month or so ago, and it's perfect for the modular, sideways design. There's meant to be ten panels in it, but because of my gauge and the fact I used handspun instead of Twilleys of Stamford Freedom Spirit DK, it would have been way too big. I knit the medium size first, and that came out too big at 8 panels, so I frogged (sobs) and made the small instead.....

Doodie-tastic

A friend of mine needed a little boost recently, so I made her a "Doodie" out of a skein of Radiance. "Doodie" is a pattern from WoollyWormhead's Wee Woolly Toppers Children's Hats Book....really easy to size up for an adult, in fact all I did was change the yarn..... :)


I was so in love with the style, I made one for me too, out of some handspun :) No bobble on mine though, bit of a crown decrease FAIL......lolz.....

Earth Mother Lacy Baktus

Okay, so I wasn't happy with the way the Triangular Prayer Shawl turned out when I'd finished it, it really wan't big ehough, so I frogged/knit a Lacy Baktus straight from it.
I am so pleased with it.......its really beautiful.

Prayer Shawl progress

Making good progress on my "Eath Mother" shawl...
One more skein to go......
**grins**

Emerald City, 3ply Handspun

This the first of what will be 2 skeins….not had chance to finish spinning the other one yet :) Very aptly named by my son, Daniel :D
2 plies hand~dyed Falkland, one space spun solid merinos (in complementary colours to those in the other 2 plies), 75yds/69m, 69g...self striping as you can see from the picture of the centre pull ball :)
Will be all ready for sale at Ravelry day though….hehehe