Freia-esque Yarn Cake

The progression from roving to ready-to-knit yarn always amazes me.

The fibre started out like this:

Then it spun to this:

Last night I wound it into a yarn cake:

It really resembles Freia Ombré yarn.

and have started knitting a Travelling Woman shawl with it.

It's a fast knit, especially with this sport weight yarn. I'm not sure I like this pattern for this yarn. Maybe something more textured would work better.

Better Pics

Handspun looks so much better in the daylight.

I call it my homage to autumn.

It's not quite dry but it skeined nicely.

It fulled a bit with washing and thwacking.

I'm happy with how it turned out.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Quick Pics

I have been spinning some Polwarth fibre these past couple of weeks at spinning. After watching Felicia Lo's video, "Spinning Dyed Fibers" on Craftsy, I thought I'd try something different. I separated the colours and spun them separately.

Here is the skein right off the niddy noddy. One side...

and the other.

I got 280 yards from the 4oz. (116g) braid of hand-dyed roving.

I have washed it and thwacked it (to set the twist) and now have it drying.

I'll get better pictures in the daylight tomorrow.

Now I need to figure out what I'll knit with this gradient DK weight yarn. Any suggestions?

Custom Grab Bag

My knitterly friend, Jennifer B., is a Star Trek fan. When she attended the Fan Expo in August, she bought 2 different fabrics that had a Star Trek theme. She then asked me to make her one of my infamous grab bags.

The lining is a cool comic-style print.

I lined it with low-loft batting to give it some structure.

There was enough fabric left to make her a zipped bag.

Campbellford Spin In

The first Tuesday of October, the Warkworth Spinning and Weaving Guild put on the Spin In in Campbellford, ON.  I have attended several times since I started spinning in 2009 and this year was no exception.

A group of 5 of us piled into Jennifer B's van for the trip.

We arrived about 1/2 hour after the event started but fortunately, Jennifer W. saved seats for us as she had arrived on time from Cobourg.

There were about 80 of us in attendance. Around the periphery of the church hall were several vendors of almost anything related to spinning: fleeces, rovings, equipment, magazines, dyes, etc.

People wishing to sell spinning wheels put them on the stage on display.

Our driver wore her custom Dianna Shawl made with Noro Mirameki yarn and using a cat's paw lace pattern.

As it was the 25th anniversary of the Warkworth guild, a piper was hired to solemnify the occasion.

 She moved quite quickly so I didn't get a very good shot with my iPhone. I wish I had taken a photo of her socks. They were quite detailed with cables, lace and a foldover top.

I really wasn't as tired as I looked.  To my left is Donna, then Jennifer B. and our newest spinning friend, Alexa.

I called this aisle of spinners 'Lendrum Lane' as there were 8 Lendrum spinning wheels

In the foreground in blue is my high school friend, and fellow crafty person, Cathy, who travelled from London, ON for the event.  That's a better shot of Alexa to Jennifer's left.

It was a lovely day for a drive in the country.  Being amidst so many spinners is so inspiring and nice to be among like-minded people.

On our way home, we stopped into 1 Stop Alpacas to check out her wares, then visited the alpacas at Alexa's alpaca farm.

We are looking forward to next year's event and hope to attend The Gathering in Port Hope next April as well.

Quilting Placemats

A couple of years ago I make several sets of table napkins for various seasons of the year.

These are the autumn ones which I start using on the first day of fall.

I wanted to make some placemats to go with them but didn't have any matching fabric so decided instead to just find some fabric that would coordinate with them colour-wise.

I found Halloween fabric that would work and whipped up these reversible placemats.

 Although not a match, I think they're fine with the napkins.



With right sides together and the batting cut to the finished dimension, I stitched 1/4" around leaving an opening for turning. I anchored the batting with some fusible web so it wouldn't shift with the turning.

I had watched this excellent video about wrapping the corners rather than pivoting and trimming the corners at a 45 degree angle. I was inspired to buy Nancy Zieman's book "Sewing A to Z" after seeing this video but joy of joys, my local library had it so I checked it out yesterday and will be reading up on other nifty sewing tips.

After turning, I stitched a 3/8" around the outside using the edge of the walking foot as a guide. It was my first time using it and I was pleased I remembered how to attach it to my machine after all this time since buying that attachment.

As I haven't done much machine quilting, I decided to just do simple stitching lines. I started at the centre and stitched vertical lines 1 1/2" apart until I got to the last gap which was 3 1/2" wide. For the first, centre, vertical line, I just used some masking tape to delineate it and stitched close to its edge. I was careful not to stitch right on the tape so I wouldn't gum up my needle. I saved the piece of tape to use with each successive one. I then used the guide arm in the walking foot following previously stitched lines as a guide.

At the last gap of 3 1/2", I added 1/4" to the spacing, to cut the gap in half.
I then handstitched the opening closed. If I were to make these again, I'd add 1/4" to each of the outside dimensions for an initial seam of 1/2" before turning. Then, when I turn and do the 3/8" border, it will close the opening, thus avoiding me having to hand stitch. If I can avoid handstitching, I'm all for it.

Initially, I thought the design said 'Love' (which didn't make sense) but on closer inspection I realize it says "Happy Halloween".

I'm already planning the Christmas placemats. And I already have fabric that matches my Christmas napkins exactly.

Ruddington

I just realized I hadn't yet posted pics of my Ruddington sweater with the buttons on.  It took me a long time at Fabricland to find what I was looking for. The light wasn't quite right in the store, but I think I got a really good match.

It was coolish yesterday so I welcomed being able to wear it.

This is my preferred sleeve length as I don't like sleeves at or below my wrists. I also like the cuff of my shirt to show if I'm wearing a long-sleeved shirt underneath.

If I were to knit this pattern again, I'd knit the ribbed cuffs on the bottom and sleeves with one size smaller needle. As I knit it a bit longer than the pattern called for, I had a longer button band and needed extra buttons.

I mirrored the cables on the sleeves.

I LOVE the colour of this Cascade 220 Heathers yarn. I can see the individual red, purple and blue fibres. It's a great colour to wear with most solid or neutral pants I own.

If you love knitting cables, you'll love any of Fiona Ellis' cable patterns. She has taken designing of unique cable patterns to a new level. She also has a class on Craftsy on 'Mastering Cable Design' where she shows how to take an element of design or nature and translate it into a cable pattern. I'm intrigued...