Spin Me Some Tweed!

Some of you have asked how I've been creating the tweed blends I've been spinning for this month's Spinner Central Spin-A-Long, so here we are. If you haven't read Abby Franquemont's excellent tutorial on creating a tweed blend, you're definitely missing out.

I'll start by saying that I'm definitely no expert on creating tweed blends (you only have to look at the pictures of my hand carders to know how new they are!)

Firstly, some ingredients for my blend:

I used some Corriedale sliver in various colours and some scraps of mulberry silk left over from one of my early dyeing experiments/disasters. Silk noil would be preferable, but I don't have any and made do without it.

I like some lumps and bumps, so I ruined some silk and turquoise Corriedale. I loaded some blue silk onto the hand cards and turned it into a matted mess by using the cards to tease and squish the silk until it was suitably messy:

Then I did the same to some orange silk. I lightly felted some tufts of turquoise Corriedale by rubbing them between my hands until it started to stick together.

Next, I loaded some warm colours onto the cards and blended until I was happy:

Then I added some blue to the mix and again blended:

Now the fun part! I started another pass and moved some of the fibre onto the other card. Then I added a thin layer of blue silk. Moved some more fibre across. Then a layer of orange silk and likewise with the semi-felted Corriedale, effectively sandwiching each "clump" ingredient between layers of blended fibre.

Then another pass or two... notice the orange and blue clumps?

Remove the rolag:

And spin! Long-draw was key to retaining the lumpy bits. Andean ply the singles and voilà!

Mars Attacks!!

One thing I've been pondering for some time is how to incorporate lace elements into men's garments. This is my first experiment in man-lace. I've tried to keep the lines strong and simple – two rows of faggotting on a biased garter stitch background. I'm very happy with the result and eager to explore man-lace some more…

The yarn used for this project was handspun from Spunky Eclectic Galaxy BFL roving in the Mars colourway. 4 oz of fibre produced 200 metres of aran weight yarn. The depth of colour in this yarn is amazing. If you haven't tried Amy's Galaxy range yet, you're definitely missing out!

The following pattern can be downloaded in PDF form (including charts) from Ravelry.

Finished Measurements: 160 cm long, 13 cm wide (64" x 5")

Yarn: 200 metres (220 yards) of aran weight yarn. I had about 15cm (6") left over.

Needles: 6.0mm (US 10)

Pattern Notes:

wyif sl1 – used at the beginning of the row – slip one stitch purlwise with yarn in front, then take yarn back between needles, ready to knit the next stitch

kfb – standard "bar" increase - knit into the front and back of the next stitch, thus making a stitch

pm – place marker – placing a marker at the point specified in the pattern will make your life easier. Every time you reach the marker on right side rows, you'll be at the point where you [yo, k2tog] twice. The marker will move along automatically and will eliminate the need to count the knit stitches.

Directions

Loosely cast on 28 stitches.

Next row and all wrong side rows – wyif sl1, K to end

Row 1: wyif sl1, k1, yo, k22, ssk, k2
Row 3: wyif sl1, kfb, yo, k2tog, k20, ssk, k2
Row 5: wyif sl1, [k1, yo] twice, k2tog, k19, ssk, k2
Row 7: wyif sl1, kfb, pm, [yo, k2tog] twice, k18, ssk, k2
Row 9: wyif sl1, kfb, k1, [yo, k2tog] twice, k17, ssk, k2
Row 11: wyif sl1, kfb, k2, [yo, k2tog] twice, k16, ssk, k2
Row 13: wyif sl1, kfb, k3, [yo, k2tog] twice, k15, ssk, k2
Row 15: wyif sl1, kfb, k4, [yo, k2tog] twice, k14, ssk, k2
Row 17: wyif sl1, kfb, k5, [yo, k2tog] twice, k13, ssk, k2
Row 19: wyif sl1, kfb, k6, [yo, k2tog] twice, k12, ssk, k2
Row 21: wyif sl1, kfb, k7, [yo, k2tog] twice, k11, ssk, k2
Row 23: wyif sl1, kfb, k8, [yo, k2tog] twice, k10, ssk, k2
Row 25: wyif sl1, kfb, k9, [yo, k2tog] twice, k9, ssk, k2
Row 27: wyif sl1, kfb, k10, [yo, k2tog] twice, k8, ssk, k2
Row 29: wyif sl1, kfb, k11, [yo, k2tog] twice, k7, ssk, k2
Row 31: wyif sl1, kfb, k12, [yo, k2tog] twice, k6, ssk, k2
Row 33: wyif sl1, kfb, k13, [yo, k2tog] twice, k5, ssk, k2
Row 35: wyif sl1, kfb, k14, [yo, k2tog] twice, k4, ssk, k2
Row 37: wyif sl1, kfb, k15, [yo, k2tog] twice, k3, ssk, k2
Row 39: wyif sl1, kfb, k16, [yo, k2tog] twice, k2, ssk, k2
Row 41: wyif sl1, kfb, k17, [yo, k2tog] twice, k1, ssk, k2
Row 43: wyif sl1, kfb, k18, [yo, k2tog] twice, ssk, k2
Row 45: wyif sl1, kfb, k19, [yo, k2tog] twice, ssk, k1
Row 47: wyif sl1, kfb, k20, yo, k2tog, ssk, k2 (this row has been corrected - sorry!)
Row 49: wyif sl1, kfb, k21, yo, k2tog, ssk, k1
(marker can be removed here and placed appropriately again on row 7)

Repeat 50 rows of pattern seven times or until yarn runs out, ending with a wrong side row.

Cast off loosely. I recommend Elizabeth Zimmermann's sewn cast off.

Weave in ends and block. Blocking will open up the yarn overs and add drape to the finished scarf. Well worth the effort!

Enjoy!

Fibre Clubs!

Hi! I realised today that it is nearly the end of March and I haven't posted anything in weeks. Where has the month gone? So much has happened in the last few weeks. One of the most exciting things to happen is the arrival of some absolutely gorgeous
fibre in the mail. I'm lucky enough to belong to the two best fibre clubs in the world! I certainly am lucky to have two extremely talented people delivering fibre to my door on a monthly basis. So thank you to Amy and Adrian! You both spoil me rotten.

I received my first ever Club fibre from Hello Yarn last week. It is truly beautiful - all of my favourite colours rolled into one! Not exactly sure what this will become, but it is screaming "SHAWL!" at me.


I also received my first ever Club Fibre from Spunky Eclectic - Think Spring!


Immediately I knew that it had to be a baby something. It wasn't until I saw sheknitsredsox's Zeebee on Ravelry that I knew what it was going to be.


The next shipment from Spunky Eclectic is due any day now (along with a whole bunch of other goodies). Can't wait!

Blended & Posh

The blending for my fair isle hat project is done and the spinning is underway:


So far I've spun up the one on the left, the two on the right and some undyed fibre:


I've also been busy this week knitting the Garden Party shawl. There is a KAL in the Posh Knitters group on ravelry. The people involved are great and it has been a heap of fun. More on this next time...

Sidetracked!

I've decided on the final set of colours (again) to create my handspun fair-isle hat. Here they are, all ready for blending. Quite happy with them considering I couldn't dye anything other than primary colours a few weeks ago.

The hat project was put on hold temporarily when a package arrived from Posh Yarn. What can I say? Very posh indeed! Dee's yarn is simply amazing and the pictures on the website don't do the yarn justice. I bought 2 skeins of Lucia Sock Yarn (70% Merino, 30% Cashmere) and one skein of Lucia Cobweb-Weight Yarn (50% Cashmere, 50% Silk).

This Lucia needs to be turned into a pair of socks within two weeks for a birthday present:

The Cecilia was purchased to make an undetermined shawl for a friend's birthday. Dee brought the Garden Party shawl to my attention and I immediately knew it was the lucky winner. So I downloaded the pattern and after a few emails between Dee and I (to determine relative weights of Cecilia and the yarn used in the pattern) I was off. The pattern written by Laura from Fiber Dreams is fantastic. It is clearly written and the graphs are large and easy to read – no need to blow them up with a photocopier.

I decided (with Dee's help) to use 3.25mm needles instead of 3.75mm since Cecilia is a tad lighter in weight (2/26) than the yarn used in the pattern (2/18). I emailed Laura to find out the dimensions of the centre panel of her blocked shawl to help me determine the difference in sizes between the two. Don't want to get all the way to the end to find out it is too small! Laura is lovely to deal with – very helpful and friendly too!

I finished off the centre panel this morning and have just blocked it out (very roughly) and I think we're in business. It isn't quite as big as Laura's (to be expected) but it is only marginally smaller, so I'm happy to continue on as soon as it dries.

So I'm off to blend some fibre...

A New Hat for Winter!

That little thought started me off on a journey…

One of the reasons I decided to learn how to spin was to be able to have a say in the yarn I knit with, instead of relying on commercial offerings only. When knitting the hat below, I was a little disappointed with the graduations of blue available to me.

So I'm going to try and produce a sequence of yarn that can be used for a new fair isle hat. I'm a relative newbie when in comes to spinning (about six months) and very recently started dyeing. This was my first attempt at mixing non-primary or secondary colours from the three primaries and was quite happy with the results.

The colours are as they came out of the dye-pot. I've deliberately not levelled the oranges and browns to increase the 'heathery-ness' factor. All of the blue/green set are quite level and even. The two oranges were dyed with the silver corriedale, the rest with the medium corriedale.

The shades of blue are a little too far apart for what I had in mind, so now my dyeing/spinning/knitting project has expanded to include blending on my drum carder...

To produce a graduating sequence of colour, I'm thinking something along the lines of:

• Blend dusty blue with undyed silver/white
  
• Use dusty blue as is
  
• Blend dusty blue with navy
  
• Use navy as is
  

Hopefully if I can make this blending project work, I'll have a more even progression from light to dark and back again (and the yarn will have a heathered look which I love as well).

I think I've got most of what I want before I start blending, but I'll need a 'stand-out' colour to lift it, since the colours I have are quite subdued. Maybe a red, but don't want it to blend too closely to the browns and oranges – perhaps a muted reddish-purple.

I'm still in two minds about the two oranges as well - too close together for my liking. Could possibly blend the lighter one with some undyed silver/gray to lighten it a bit and move it away from the orange/brown.

Toe Up Socks with Heel Flap – Part V – Leg and Cuff

We've just finished the heel and we're ready to knit the leg and cuff. There are a number of ways to close up any gaps that may form at the top of the gusset. Everyone has their favourite way. Here's mine… When knitting the first stitch of the heel, I pick up the stitch below the last instep stitch (the one just knitted before this stitch) and knit it together with the first heel stitch. This is picked up in the same way as a lifted increase. When I get around to the other side, I knit the first instep stitch in the same way (by picking up the stitch below the last heel stitch). Other people make 1 by picking up the strand between the stitches and then decrease the made stitch on the next row. Do whatever method you find most appropriate for your style of knitting.

So we continue knitting in the round until we get to the cuff. How long do we make the leg? As long as you like. I like to have the leg and cuff of my socks equal the length of the foot. I also usually make the cuff around 1½" – so when I'm 1½" from the end, it is time for the cuff (see image below).

I like to decrease about 10% for the cuff. I work the first round of rib as follows: (Rib 9, work 2 together), then continue on for the desired length.

The cast off edge for toe up socks needs to be super stretchy. Again, there are a myriad of ways to do this. Here is a link to my favourite sock cast off – it is super stretchy and looks neat and tidy. The stretchiness of this cast off equals the stretchiness of the long tail cast on.

After casting off, weave in your ends and you're done (except for maybe knitting the second sock!)