Category Archives: Knitting

Bits and pieces

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Not much craft work lately, owing to other pressures. However, I finished weaving a warp off my table loom that a student in a weaving workshop had started, and then decided she didn’t want to continue. So, it’s been sitting on the table loom for a while, and we’ve occasionally used it as a loom for demonstrations for people to have a go on, but I finally decided that I’d weave off the rest of the warp and use the cloth to make a jacket or vest for our raffle dolls.Twill wool cloth

The warp was actually sett a bit too far apart, which made beating evenly something of a challenge, but the finished cloth actually came up very nicely when washed.

So, all my looms are currently empty. I’ll hopefully get a warp on at least one of them soon, but this coming weekend is busy with the Armidale Show, so it may not be until after that. I’ve spent the last couple of evenings finishing the fringe of the rainbow scarf to enter into the Show – I started twisting it last weekend, and did one end entirely, but then decided the ‘twists’ were too narrow and tight, so I had to undo the lot, and then redo them. But it’s currently reclining in the display case at the Show, and I’ll find out tomorrow whether it got a place in the contest. I also put a pair of socks in, and a skein of fine yarn, since there were hardly any entries in most of the classes.

The bliss socks are progressing, but I had to frog an entire pattern repeat as I stuffed it up. Now that I’ve finished twisting (and untwisting, and twisting again…) the scarf fringe, I can get back to the socks.

Bliss sock(s)

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Baby alpaca sock

The first alpaca sock is finished. I’m going to call these my Bliss socks, because even better than handling this yarn while knitting it, is pulling it onto one’s foot. Absolute, indulgent, bliss.

These won’t be going-to-work socks, or bushwalking socks, because they won’t be hard-wearing enough. Nope, these will be ‘curling up on the lounge on a wintry Sunday afternoon with a freshly-made Earl Grey tea and chocolate fudge’ socks.

Of course, given that it’s still summer here, I’ll have a little while to wait for winter, but I’ll finish the other one soon so that I can practice wearing them during autumn 🙂

Rainbow scarf progress

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rainbow scarf painted warp

The weather’s been quite hot lately, which makes our sunroom too hot to work in except in the mornings – and I haven’t had a lot of free time in the mornings. It’s a bit too dark at night, when it’s cooler, so progress on the second rainbow scarf has been slow. However, this morning I’m working on it! I’ve even done a little more since this photo was taken, so I’m up to the purple part of the warp, and about to go into two threads of dark blue for the weft. The colours in this photo are a little ‘out’, but convey the general idea. The colour transitions are going more smoothly than in the first one, due to the extra colours and the more gradual shading over more pattern repeats.

mauve and yellow scarf warp

I’ve been planning for ages to weave a blanket for my  friend’s baby, who was born in August. It took me a while to settle on colours and order the yarn – I finally got the yarn before Christmas. I’m planning on doing twill blocks in the three colours, but want to do a sample first. So, I wound a warp last night for the sample and, as I’ve done several times before, I made the ‘sample’ warp long enough to be a scarf. It’s a 5-ply Bendigo yarn so it won’t take too long to weave, and this way I get to get a reasonable idea of how the yarn, structure and colours will work, and all going well, my friend will get a scarf to match her daughter’s blanket 🙂

I’ll weave this one on the big loom that I’m hoping to sell. I’m sure that once I get the blanket warp on it, someone will decide they want to buy the loom right away!

alpaca sock progress

I watched an episode of Taggart last night, so the alpaca version of theLatvian sock has grown by a couple of pattern repeats. The yarn is pure bliss to handle.

Now I’ve had my cup of tea and blog break, it’s back to the loom.

With one sock on…

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I finished knitting the first blue lacy sock about a week ago.  Since I think the yarn’s a bit heavy for the pattern, I thought I might knit the pattern in the soft alpaca I  bought the other week, and not rush to finish the  second blue sock.

So, I’ve started the alpaca ones, and the yarn is gorgeous – a luscious treat to handle. The blue bluebell isn’t in the same league, but you know, it’s growing on me. It might be just as well that I’ve got two sets of needles – I can see both on the go at once!

Blue lacy Latvian socks

(Yes, yes, so my leg is not a Barbie doll! Memo to self: next time, wear something slightly more respectable than ancient track pants.)

I’m also knitting a little hand-spun jacket from a white merino-cross fleece for our group’s doll raffle.  I’m making it up as I go along, with twisted cables on the fronts. I hope I’ll have enough yarn – it’s stuff from the stash – if not, it will be a waistcoat 🙂

The doll project is taking up some of my thoughts just now, as we made the dolls last weekend, and now have to dress them. I still have a little handwoven fabric left from the last time we raffled dressed dolls (see below); there’s enough for a waistcoat.  It’s a plain weave with small checks of slightly thicker yellow on a background of fine black. I loved the fabric so much that I’ve woven a length with mauve on the black – I just have to find the time, courage, and pattern to make it up into a jacket for me!

handwoven doll clothes

Mid-week progress

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Hmm… not a whole lot of the progress stuff. I watched a DVD the other night, so that was spinning time – and I think I’ve done about 25 or 30 grams of the fine merino, so next time I watch some TV I’ll start plying that. I did find the lace flyer in preparation for the plying, as the higher ratios will speed up the process.

The first blue lacy sock is almost done – about one more pattern repeat before I start on the toes. I might get it finished tomorrow night. I’ve done no more weaving since the weekend, but hopefully I’ll get the second rainbow scarf finished this weekend.

I’ll have to decide what I’m going to do for the Armidale Show. I’m not competitive at all, but I feel strongly that I should enter something so that there are at least some entries in the various spinning and weaving classes. The pavilion contests will just die if there are no entries, so I try to do my bit. But it’s a bit tricky when I haven’t actually made a whole lot in the past year! The second rainbow scarf will go in (that gives a deadline for it to be finished by!) and I’m thinking that I might dye some handspun yarn this weekend and knit either socks or mittens.

I’ll have a look at my fibre stash and see about spinning a skein or two for the spinning sections. Yes, I could enter the white merino I’m spinning now, but since one of my skeins won the fine spinning section two years ago, and the resulting scarf won last year, it might be regarded as overdoing things 😉 So perhaps I should challenge myself and do a fancy skein, or a medium-weight blended skein or something.

I think I’ll need to watch a few DVDs in the next couple of weeks, to have some spinning time 🙂  However, I have to fit all this in plus finding the pattern for the dolls we’re going to make and raffle, organise our group’s move to new premises, do a demonstration on Australia Day, and make some hand-spun and/or handwoven clothes for the dolls. Oh, yes, and go to the day-job, do some work on the PhD, and get some writing done.

Stash enhancement

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On Friday, I went to the local wool shop, and bought an extra ball of Bluebell for the blue lacy socks, and two balls of a luscious, soft, alpaca yarn. I’m going to finish the blue lacy socks, even though the yarn/pattern combination isn’t perfect – they’ll be okay, just not my favourite pair! However, I’m also going to knit a pair in the alpaca. I’m not sure how well it well wear, though, but I guess I’ll find out. Worst case – well, I have a darning needle, and I know how to use it!

alpaca yarn

The wool shop also has some spinning supplies, and some silk caps came home with me, as well. I don’t actually really enjoy spinning silk caps (although I love spinning silk tops!), but I’d like to have some slightly slubby silk yarn for weaving, which is how my spinning of silk caps turns out.

Speaking of spinning, on Friday night and last night, the DH and I watched DVDs – rather than knit, I did some spinning. I’m spinning some merino very fine, for a lacy scarf. The trouble with spinning very fine – and we’re talking finer than cotton thread fine – is that it takes so long to get much done. After a 2-hour DVD, there still didn’t seem very much at all on the bobbin! I started this spinning about two months ago; since I only spin when watching DVDs, and I do very little of that these days as I spend most evenings writing, it’s taken me all this time to spin probably about 20 grams of yarn. There’s a lot of meters in that 20 grams, but it still doesn’t feel like a great achievement… and I need at least 50 grams to make a decent length scarf. The small triangular one I made last year took about 20 grams, and I want the next one to be rectangular and much larger. However, I don’t think, at this rate, that I’m going to get enough spun AND knit it up in time for this year’s Armidale Show – so last year’s achievements there has little chance of being equalled this year!

Lace scarf

More socks

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Jade/blue/purple socks

I found the pair of socks I finished a month or two back 🙂 The yarn is a Patons yarn, with the heels and toes done in a Bendigo 5 ply. I have some more of the Patons; I like this colourway, and the texture of the yarn, so I’ll knit another pair, this time with purple heels and toes.

The blue lacy socks (from a couple of posts ago) are progressing, but I’m not 100% happy with the pattern and yarn combination. I’ve knitted the first sock past the heel, but when I tried it on it’s a bit tight around the leg. I think it will be okay, but if I’m going to continue I’l need to get another ball of yarn. If the wool shop is out of the yarn, I’ll take that as a sign, undo what I’ve done and maybe knit some mittens with that yarn instead. And of, course, buy some different yarn to knit the lacy socks with – something a little softer 🙂

Socks done

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This morning, I’ve finished the latest pair of socks for my Dad.

Opal yarn handknitted socks

I bought the yarn at Lincraft in Brisbane, when I was there for a conference at the end of September. I met Mary-Helen, aka the Witty Knitter, at the conference, and since she was knitting during the sessions I started the socks and knitted with her.

I already had a pair of socks on the needles at home, so it took me a little while to finish this pair, as I had to finish the others, too. If I could find where I’d put that pair of socks, I’d photograph it too, but I tucked them away somewhere in case I wanted to give them as Xmas presents, and now I can’t find them. They won’t be too far away – I’ll just have to remember what filing ‘logic’ I used 😉

In the meantime, onward and upward – or is that downward? – with the next pair:

Blue lacy handknitted socks