Tag: Spinning

Frustrations and Playing

Posted on by Alice Neal

To continue where I left off yesterday, whilst my fabulous man was preparing a scrumptious chicken chasseur last night, and with all my littlies tucked up in bed or otherwise occupied, I decided to try my hand at spinning.

I settled down with my spindle, bag of fleece and YouTube and I believe I made two fatal errors, both of which result from my usual modus operandi of going off half-cocked, full of enthusiasm and without the requisite knowledge: 1) I assumed that the fleece I had bought had already been carded. And 2) I didn’t realise you could get more than one standard spindle size.

So, 1) It hadn’t, and was a pig to try to spin, and 2) You can, and mine, it turns out after just a few minutes’ research on YouTube, is too small. That is, it is made of pine and barely 3″ diameter, when, it would seem, at least 4″ and hardwood gives you the weight you need to keep it spinning. To add insult to injury, the carders I acquired with my spinning wheel have not been used in a very long time and are consequently a little rusty / dirty with the result that they turn my once white fleecy wool a less fetching russet. Harumph. If anybody reading this has first-hand experience of such things and feels like sharing their wisdom, you’ll find a most grateful recipient!

In not too very long, I hope, I shall be receiving the wool from the black sheep, which will mean I can card it without any real change in colour, and I will order a larger spindle. Incidentally, whilst perusing eBay for said larger spindle, I found a listing for some Roman spindle whorls, carved from black rock. Now wouldn’t that be a thing of beauty – dated around 100-200 BC… Food for thought…

I gave up on the spinning and sat twiddling my thumbs for a moment, wondering which of my many WIPs to pick up. None of them enthused me, and I didn’t fancy starting the crocodile just before supper. Then I stumbled across one of the first neckwarmers I ever knitted. I never wear it because I made it too narrow. And since I first knitted it, I have begun to crochet, and seen half a million totally inspiring fusions of the two methods, so I decided to pick a few chunky yarns I had lying around and play a little. Below, you can see what happened, and you can make out, I think, the original chunky rib knitted in a heavy multi-coloured (flecked) yarn:

Knit / Crochet fusion neckwarmer
Knit / crochet fusion neckwarmer

I haven’t taken it off since, except to bathe and sleep 🙂 It has also inspired me to look into knitting or crocheting a sweater with a neck similar to this one (I love my polo necks and this winter seems to have gone on forever. It is snowing as I type and nearly Easter!) I’ve seen a few patterns which are knitted from the neck down, which I find quite an intriguing and challenging idea, since I’ve only ever tried garments using the ‘make-this-bit-and-add-it-to-this-bit’ method. I’d love to hear from anybody who’s tried it, or feels like sharing any links to patterns. 🙂

As I mentioned, the snow has not stopped, and I am grateful to have a large drawstring bag stuffed with hats and neckwarmers I’ve knitted the past few winters. Here is my number 4, complete with infectious toothy grin (that one at the front is about to fall out) and a hat I began by knitting for myself, gave to my youngest, who refused to wear it, and that has now been appropriated by this one:

Chunky Monkey
Chunky Monkey

But most of today has been taken up with Norfolk Beard Oil – packing and posting new orders. We’ve just released sample bottles, which are proving rather popular. “Try before you buy”… If you have a hairy man in your life, you might just want to take a look 🙂

Norfolk Beard Oil
Norfolk Beard Oil
sample6
‘Lover’ beard oil sample

I guess I have to hope for more crafting tomorrow, if the laundry permits…

 

Hexagons and Spindles…

Posted on by Alice Neal

This week, I am determined to advance some of the projects I already have on the go. I am itching to start several other things, but I must exercise some self-discipline or my house will be taken over in the messiest and least intentional yarn-bomb catastrophe known to man (or woman, for that matter).

So, with that in mind, I went back to my hexagon blanket today. I’m using Rowan’s Kaffe Fassett Colourscape: a gorgeous woollen yarn whose colours melt effortlessly into one another. All the hexagons below are from the same skein. I have already got 30 made, and some already joined up, but I decided I needed a more methodical approach. So my mission today was to edge all the motifs I already have:

Edging the hexagons
Edging the hexagons

But then I got bored. I’d edged maybe five or six, so I decided to join them to the piece I already had. I now have around 17 joined together and I totally love the look (though it needs blocking, the ends weaving in etc) and working with it in this unseasonally snowy weather was lovely and snuggly warm, too.

The hexagonal story so far
The hexagonal story so far, with, in the background, my toddler whose favourite place is on top of the coffee table 🙂

The post brought a rather exciting parcel, too… My spindle! I now have some fibre (and more on the way), a spindle, YouTube and am just waiting till all my little darlings are in bed, my lovely man cooking – how glad am I that he’s in the kitchen tonight!? – and I’ll give it a whirl. (No pun intended) 🙂

Spindle and fibre
Spindle and fibre

And finally, my little number four son, aged 6, has been suffering from a lack of attention lately. It’s tough being number four of five. Actually, it’s tricky getting enough attention being any one of five (and I speak from experience) especially when you have a mother who is constantly buried under a mountain of yarn, and is off in a world of ‘what shall I make next’…?

attentionI had a rare insight into his world outside home yesterday, when his teacher told me how proud he is to come to school in something I’ve made for him. I do sometimes worry about the potential therapy sessions when they’re grown up and have left home: “All the other kids had this really cool kit, but my mum made me wear all this homemade stuff…!” After all, I’m not sure my 13 year old would be remotely happy about leaving the house in something I’d knitted 😉

So I’m off to spend some time with my little fella, and I’ve promised him that the very next project I start will be a knitted crocodile for him.

Spindles and Looking Glasses

Posted on by Alice Neal

So I’ve picked up my spinning wheel. It is a thing of beauty!

spinning-wheel3 spinning-wheel2 spinning-wheel

I haven’t a clue how it works, as I have mentioned before, nor even if it has all its requisite parts. So this morning, before dragging my bones out of bed to cook brunch for a million small people (and two big ones), I looked on YouTube to see if I could shed any light on the situation.

I didn’t get further than this (a fabulous lady who goes by the name of Biddypunk on Tumblr too, and who I follow for her fibre adventures):

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zfPKLpL0TQ]

from which I learned that I didn’t need the spinning wheel at all!

So, I’ve bought one of these on eBay:

Hand Spindle
Hand Spindle

Now, instead of picturing a rather haggard mother-of-five trudging her way steadily forwards on the treadmill of packed lunches, homework, nappies, laundry, cooking and trying to remember if she brushed her hair this morning, I can imagine myself like this:

The New Me
The New Me

I promptly bought myself a kilo of black sheep wool (which tickles me… the Black Sheep part, for reasons I’d better not share 😉 ) and am waiting for spindle and fleece to arrive so that I can get cracking with it.

There are also videos a-plenty on YouTube for advice on how to wash fleece without turning it into a great big lump of felt. Felting is all well and good, but better when it was intended – I speak from experience (though I have always made good use of his shrunken jumpers afterwards… shhhh!)

This morning, the postman’s knock at the door bore my copy of Alice in Wonderland for turning into an English Patient-type journal. At first, I was concerned it was too big – there had been no dimensions in the listing and it is a large copy. But as my lovely other half pointed out, we are not world travellers, so lugging it around isn’t going to be too much of an issue. And the really really good news is that it is just beautiful.

Alice in Wonderland
Alice in Wonderland

Alice-journal2So I am champing at the bit to get started on that, too.

This afternoon, though, I have finally completed the crocheting together of the top of my granny square waistcoat. Which will probably be more of a long, sleeveless coat, but let’s not fret about names 🙂

I took some photos in the mirror, as I always think these things look more real when they’re on a body, rather than lying on a table or floor, but… I’ll try to upload them tomorrow, and get better pictures when it’s nearing completion. Don’t watch this space. And certainly don’t hold your breath – you’ll turn blue! This is a lengthy process.

Off to cook supper.

Toodle-pip