Colour Comfort

I finished and wore a new crochet hat yesterday. I used the "sea green" handspun which was really a teal colour and came across more blue than green to some of my readers. Whatever colour you call it, I was very happy with my new hat. I was so happy with it that I immediately started another one. This one is definitely blue.



It's Morris' Empire superwash merino in "imperial blue". The yarn is deliciously soft. Soft enough to make my fingers happy and I'm fussy that way since I'm used to my own handspun merino. I've put the two colours together in the pic to try to show up the difference, but the teal handspun still lacks the liveliness it shows in the flesh. As we're heading towards the winter solstice this week, I'm stocking up on warm things to brighten the darker days. 

Warm

It's been a week of cool misty mornings clearing to sunny days and I've been taking advantage of the opportunity to walk as often as I can. My regular track follows a nearby creek--lots of trees but not many of them deciduous. Nevertheless the weather has me thinking of autumn colours. I spun these up this morning.

These are not so much the colours I see around me this autumn. Maybe I'm trying to capture some of the feel of autumn and the promise of warmth. Anyway I've got enough for another pair of wrist warmers.

Next Please

I'm ready for a new yarn in for the wristies I'm making. Here's what I chose:

It's similar to the purple yarn I've been using recently, but there's more colour variation and a strand of silk in there. I don't think I'm going to get tired of knitting this any time soon!

Finished?

I finished knitting this little piece yesterday.

It's a fine little capelet and weighs in at only 56 grams, but it's been a long term project. I spun the wool-silk blend a couple of years ago and cast on at the collar. After shaping the shoulders and the neck opening I worked a pattern of regular increases until I ran out of wool. If you're wondering why it took so long, there's something like 800 stitches around the bottom edge. That's a lot of knitting. Now the big question will be how it sits on the person for whom it's intended and whether the shaping actually works in an attractive way. I hope to find that out tomorrow. Meanwhile the ends have been sewn in and I'm on to a new project.

Winter Garden

I've been watching the weather forecast, looking for an opportunity to head out into the garden and continue my battle with the weeds. It's been raining this morning, but it looks like it may be clearing now. Meanwhile I've spent an easy half hour on another woolly rose. 

These ones don't need any weeding or feeding and they bloom in all weathers. What you can see in the pic is the newly knitted rose-to-be on the left. It's a strip of knitting with increases which make it curl and ruffle. To turn it into a flower like the one on the right, I need to wrap the strip in on itself, stitching as I go. I'm deliberately checking through the steps here because there's been a suggestion that I make up some kits to sell at the wool shop where they stock my handspun. So my next task is to see how much yarn each rose takes and then allow a bit extra just in case.

Perspective

Perspective was our topic for drawing class yesterday afternoon. With the help of our rulers, pencils and detailed instructions we managed to extract something that looked a bit like a real building out of a mass of construction lines. It turns out that a lot has to do with your point of view. I'm hoping today's experience will be similar. Here's a view of my kitchen table this morning.My cup of coffee is in the foreground. Everything else falls into place around and behind it. Having drained it, I hope everything else will fall into place and something resembling a reasonable day will emerge.

My first task is to list and price a box of handspun skeins for my friend E who is coming to pick them up for her shop. Next week they will be nicely established at House of Cloth in Bendigo. Then I have my stuff from last week's activities to put away. There's also some more spinning and knitting hovering on the horizon. Hopefully I can catch up with that before it reaches the vanishing point. . . .

Visitors

My weaving buddy E came to see me yesterday. More specifically, she came to see me and my handspun yarn. E is the proud owner of House of Cloth in Bendigo. This little textile paradise is about to go into knitting yarns and my handspun will be among them. It was a friendly kind of visit, so E came with her son C and two fluffy canine companions. As you can see, they made themselves at home. It was such a pleasure to show my work to a skilled craftsperson. She instantly appreciated the quality of the fibre and the amount of skill and time that goes into making each strand of yummy yarn. From a business point of view, she was happy to buy the yarn outright, which simplifies the process for me so much compared to a consignment set up. Plus I get the instant gratification of up front payment. Overall a satisfying few hours. Now of course I need to fill the gap in my stock created by E's appreciation. Meanwhile I have some assignments to finish for TAFE and a class to teach in a few hours, so I'd better get on with the day.

Dragon Done

I happily finished the dragon hat last night. I'm particularly proud of the fact that once I'd finished the crochet, I actually got out the darning needle and little scissors and wove in the loose ends straight away--oh well, within an hour. That's pretty much straight away. All too often I nearly finish something and then it becomes an annoying chore rather than a happy completion. Here it is in all its spiky glory. Not exactly what I'd call life-like. In different colours it could just about be a rooster hat or some sort of weird flower, but the requester will know it's a blue dragon hat and that's the main thing. As for the technical details: I used my own handspun. The body of the hat is two thicknesses of a faux marle merino. The spikes are one thickness of the same with a hand-dyed english leicester. That gives a slightly darker colour and maybe a bit more strength to the sticking-out bits without putting the itchy wool anywhere near the wearer's sensitive skin. And I decided against using beading wire to finish it. My challenge was to make a self-supporting fabric and I've done it. All those close little double crochet stitches make a nice tight fabric.

For those who don't know my friends . . . the "dragon hat girl" is the older sister of the "eyeball hat girl". With a pair like this anything could happen!

Miniature

I started this miniature project yesterday morning. I've been working at spinning a suitable yarn to mend an heirloom baby blanket. My early attempts on my wheel weren't fine enough and I started to get frustrated with myself. Then I thought of using a drop spindle. I don't need much yarn at all, and I love the control I can achieve, especially with my lightest spindle. First I did a tiny little sample just to see how it would go. Then I did a bit more, L has that, and is about to pull out her knitting needles to match the pattern of the original blanket. That left me with a ridiculously small amount of a ridiculously fine handspun merino. It's hardly even a couple of grams, but I couldn't let it go to waste. I decided to play with it:For reference, that little ball of yarn is about the size of my finger-tip and the needles are 2 mm. It feels really strange working at this scale--and yet I know that people make entire shawls out of fine yarns like this. I'll be proud of myself if I can achieve a bookmark.