I’ve just come across a brilliant adaption to the February baby sweater pattern from Knitter’s Almanac by Elizabeth Zimmermann. Details here (including free pattern).
Spinning my own hand-dyed tops
I’ve been spinning my hand-dyed tops today. I was at a local spinning meeting and received some compliments on the colours. I’m pleased with how the singles are coming out. I’ve split the tops lengthways so that the colours will blend from one to the next. I’ll see how successful I’ve been when I ply them together.
The slight felting that the wool suffered when I dyed it has resulted in a few noils. I try and pick these out when I get to them. I’m trying worsted style spinning for a change.
I’ve also been using my new sliding hook flyer for the Ashford traditional wheel today. I’ve applied three coats of finishing oil to the wood to seal it. So far I like it. It’s resolved the rattle that my wheel had and is easy to use. The bobbin is also an impressive size (apparently 30% larger than the standard bobbin).
I’ll post a picture of a bobbin of singles and the sliding hook flyer tomorrow (when I have daylight).
First use of my Haldane
I’ve been oiling all the key parts of my Haldane since she arrived. However, today is the first chance I’ve had to do any spinning on her.
I found a few bobbin ends of singles (all Jacob) I’ve spun on my Ashford Traditional and decided to ply them together and empty all the bobbins. I had fun while trying the Andean plying technique to use up the last bobbin – I lost one of the ends (I had images of a birds nest of unusable singles). Fortunately I found it and was able to use up all the singles. Here is the result:
Another Wheel
I’ve just bought another wheel. I’ve not seen it in person yet. It’s a Haldane Hebridean – which is a double drive wheel. It’ll be joining my two Ashford Traditional wheels.
The finished tops
The tops were slightly felted – but I’ve pre-drafted slightly and they have fluffed back up.
Dyeing top
I’ve spent a good part of today dyeing some Shetland top. It’s dyed with Ashford’s dyes. I used purple, teal and yellow. However, the purple looks more like pink to me (I’m going to check the bottles tomorrow and make sure I didn’t use the hot pink by mistake). I “painted” the top with the colours – mixing them where they met.
The top’s currently drying and I’m hoping I haven’t felted it during the process. I’ll be able to check when it’s dry and I’ll post up a picture too.
A long overdue update
As you can see it’s been a long time since my last update. Below is a pictorial update of the last 12 months or so.
Progress on the Tomten
O.K. I know progress has been very slow – but the end is now in sight. I’ve been working the edges (cuffs, etc) in a coordinating yarn, and I’m currently working on the button bands.
I’ve been putting off finishing the hood for ages – scared of doing “weaving” which Elizabeth Zimmermann makes look so easy. I was even contemplating crocheting the two halves together and making the join a feature. Anyway, I sat down at the kitchen table on Friday night and concentrating really hard (I had to send my husband out when he came to do some tidying up) I finally managed to weave the two edges together. The final result is wonderful. I’m so pleased I did it this way! I held the stitches on some bamboo sock yarn, which ensured I didn’t drop any stitches but allowed the stitches to lie flat. The bamboo yarn was nice and slippy – so was easy to remove afterwards.
I’m now trying to find some suitable buttons before I work the button holes.
UK Knitting Magazines
The UK now has an astonishing 6 knitting magazines being published regularly and available in major high-street newsagents. These are: Knitting, Knit Today, Simply Knitting, Lets Knit, Yarn Forward and The Knitter.
The most recent are The Knitter (first issue on sale this month) and Yarn Forward (which has only just reached the shops but has been available online for a little while). Well I dashed out and bought my copy of The Knitter almost as it hit the shelves. It promised to be a source of inspiration for competent and experienced knitters. Well, The Knitter is of a high standard, but I don’t think it has quite hit the mark. I thought a comparison with Yard Forward was in order.
| The Knitter (issue 1) | Yarn Forward (Issue 9) | |
| Cost | £5.99 | £3.99 |
| Patterns | 12 (I’m only counting the cushion covers as one pattern) | 9 (I’ve not counted the chart from the intarsia article as a pattern) |
| Original patterns* | 6 (only half of the patterns) | 9 (all of them) |
| Techniques | Turkish Cast On | Mood boards Intarsia Cables |
| Articles | Two Interviews | Studio Visit Three Interviews Teaching children to knit Giving Something Back |
| Other features | The Knitter Loves… Trends Books Readers’ Letters Gallery of Readers work |
News Things we like Books Knitting on the Net Tales from a Yarn Shop |
* Original patterns are those not taken from a book or yarn supplier’s leaflet.
Both magazines contain interesting patterns. In Yarn Forward there is a chunky cabled coat and a beautiful lace shawl. In The Knitter there is a beautiful cabled and shaped jumper and a simpler cabled jumper with a ribbed yolk.
Both magazines assume a competency in knitting (or at least the ability to use a good knitting reference book). However, The Knitter concentrates on patterns while Yarn Forward has both exclusive patterns and a good selection of interesting articles. Overall I think Yarn Forward has the edge and I’m looking forward to reading it for many years to come.
An Experiment with Precious Metal Clay
I came across this product just before Christmas. It’s like clay, so it can be sculpted – but it is actually silver particles in a binder. When the clay is dry it is fired. This burns off the binder, the particles are sintered together and the clay becomes a solid piece of pure silver.
I used to make jewellery with polymer clay (Fimo, etc) so I really wanted to try this. I ordered a starter kit over Christmas, but had to wait to the beginning of this week for it to arrive. I finally got round to trying it today.
I made a pendent with a rose in the middle. Let it dry, then fired it this evening. I finished it off with brushing and burnishing. I’m really happy with the result (though I need to practice my finishing technique).
