Yet more blithering

It's not a good week to not have the camera! Luckily I've remembered that I have photos from an old secret project which has finally been sent to its recipient, so I can post those soon.

Today has been a fun fibre day. Let me put it this way: my fingers are blue.

And no, I don't mean with RSI numbness. I forgot to wear gloves during some very hands-on Kool Aid dyeing ;)

Today I went to my first Guild meeting. There is a little bit of a story to this, which I think I have previously been too embarrassed to write about. There was a summer fete style event back in June, which I went to, because my friend had been the year before & said there had been spinners. So I packed up my [empty] spindle (at this point I didn't have the Bosworth, and had only spindle spun about 15 yards altogether!) and some merino top, and went to find the spinners. Well, it was a hot day, I was nervous, I was babbling... and I was completely incompetent at spinning! I hadn't pre-drafted, my hands were sweaty, I was being watched by lots of people, I kept dropping my spindle (as in, drop it and it rolls under a table, kind of dropping it). And my babbling was about how good at spinning I was, so I really was setting myself up for humiliation. Uh-huh. It was one of those days.

(This is why I was so thrilled that I didn't suck at spinning in front of the Majacraft designer and the spindling tutors at Woolfest! I had previous form for looking like a prat).

What I should've done was taken a pre-spun spindle or my Ella shawl, rather than trying to join in.

Anyway, today was a lot more relaxed. It was the first session after a summer break, so it was just a 'bring a craft & show'n'tell' type event. Seeing as I am not very good at meeting new people, it went well! (I think I brought the average age of the room down to about 79 ;) ). I got some spindling done on my Bosworth (my spindles tend to get neglected), showed off my half-completed Swallowtail, and got to see an Inkle loom in action.

When I got home I ended up knitting more of my cardie. I'd been talking about dyeing earlier, and all my yarn has arrived, so all that was left to do was guess-timate how much yarn I'd need to dye. I did this by knotting a marker onto the live yarn at yard points, and seeing how much I was using for each row.

The dyeing has gone OK, I think. Not quite as consistent as I hoped, but that's my fault for using drink as a dye! I ended up with an ounce of each colour yarn (hot pink, yellow & 'camel') which I wanted to overdye with blue Kool Aid to get purple, green and blue. 12 sachets of Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade, and I think I've probably saturated it as much as it will go. The yarn is 50% acrylic, so I knew it was never going to be completely overdyed. I might reskein and use one further sachet on each to make sure I've got as complete coverage as possible. I've certainly got good coverage on my fingertips!

Not really cheating...

I haven't done too well at posting in the past week have I? In true Wave-Gotik-Treffen weekend fashion, I have had a horrible cold (the year I went to the WGT I got horrendous flu - and I mean full-on flu - on the last day. I ended up lying on the floor at the back of the Agra - because I couldn't get back to the hotel on my own - trying to listen to the doodlesac bands in a sort of haze, and trying not to breathe on people).

The other day I posted pictures of my first two spindle-spun skeins ('skeins' is pushing it, I will admit. Neither can be more than 20 yards!). I was a leetle hard on myself for saying they really suck. But that's because I was coloured by my knowledge of my third ever spindlings...



Isn't it amazing? This was my experimenting with my fibre from the Sanguine Gryphon. If I spun it on a spindle, it didn't count as spinning ;) I had been unsure as to whether to just spin a mix of colours/fibres or to try and separate things out. And then I didn't know whether I wanted to do a regular 2 ply (with barberpole effect) or try out Navajo plying.

I pulled off a small sliver* and spun it finely on my spindle, just as it was. Then I Andean plyed it together. It looked so lovely, I just had to see how it knit up. It's so glorious! I was so excited when I finished that teeny swatch - I said to Mr Bee "I have something amazing to show you", and he rolled his eyes as he always does when I show him yarn-y stuff. But then he said, "oh, that is very nice"! It must be nice ;)

I was pretty surprised that the yarn came out so well, since it was my third ever attempt at the spindle, but obviously my wheel skills have come into good use here.

The above swatch is done with 3.25mm needles, and it's just beautiful. Before I knit up all the yarn I cast on with the other end on some 4.5mm needles:



Beautiful in a whole 'nother way. This time each stitch has multiple colours in it.

Can't wait to spin the lot!

* Note: 'sliver' is not being used in it's Official Fibre Term designation.

Spindlin'

My main problem with blogging is that I tend to write all my posts in my head and then... they stay there. Then I'm surprised that I haven't blogged for weeks, or that I still haven't posted photos of blah, or that I haven't yet mentioned that first thing I did when the thing I want to mention now is kinda related...

So. Lots of news to come. Today was a good photo day, so I made Mr Bee take some photos for me so that I can get some FO reports up. I've made a pact that I cannot start my beautiful fibre from the Gryphon until I've:

• Given my paper
• Submitted my book review
• Sorted out the ribbon for the Lace-Up Opera Gloves
  
• FO report for the Lace-Up Opera Gloves
• FO report for Tempting
• FO report for Branching Out
• Not been in pain for a while
  

(you will note that 'FO report for Sonnet' is still not on that list. One day I won't hate it, I promise.)

But anyway, in order to set up a couple of posts I have planned, I need to post this one. I should've posted this weeks ago, but haven't yet. It's about spindling.

Now, I got my drop spindle with my second batch of fibre, in the hope that it would help me draft better at the wheel. I think it did help me understand the concept of how the twist works, but my first spindlings were dire. Plus, I was slow at it and unsure as to whether it was good for my arms.

I basically did some experimenting with some grey wool (Massam Mid Grey or Jacobs, can't remember), but only picked up the spindle about twice in a year. I used the rest of that grey top for dyeing and wheel spinning with.

When my ankles were hurting the other month I got tempted by the spindle again. One night I decided to ply what I'd spindled, so that I could empty the spindle. I presumably did an Andean plying bracelet rather than a centre-pull ball:



As you can see, beginner's spinnings. It actually looked a lot better unplyed, and maybe I should've left it as singles. Oh well!



But I am being too hard on myself. A spindle is different to a wheel, and besides, most of that had been spun when I was pretty shaky on the wheel too.

Once I'd taken the plyed yarn off the spindle, I tried with some blue merino top that I discovered I still had. These second spindlings went a lot better! A lot more consistent, plus a lot thinner. I realised the spindle would also spin forever (I had assumed it was a really crappy one since it was so cheap, only a couple of £), and I didn't need to park and draft anymore. Whilst I'm not entirely sure that spindling helped me on the wheel, the wheel has *certainly* helped my spindling.



I still had this blue on the spindle when my fibre arrived, and as I was fondling it a small piece of green came off... So I added it to my spinning, just a little bit, right at the end:



Mmmmm... dark blue 'n' dark green. I realise that apparently received wisdom states that they "ought ne'er be seen", but I like 'em.

Spindling

We had a day trip today to Chedworth Roman Villa. It was just a spur of the moment idea, but when we got there it turned out that there was a Romano-British/ Dark Ages craft demonstration on. Actually, most of the tents were closed up - I don't know whether they were just there for show or whether it was lunch time for the re-enactors ;)

Earlier that morning, by chance, I had done a teeny bit of spindling. I'll have to take a photo of my spindle at some point. At the museum villa they had some examples of spindle whorls from the Roman period found at the villa:



The massive stone ring on the right isn't a huge whorl, it's a loom weight. I'm quite interested in how the weighted looms work (following a conversation with another re-enactor in a castle in Wales which I'll blog about later who didn't appear to think that looms were invented until the industrial period!???). And just my luck - it appeared that there was a weaving tent at the villa!

So we wandered over and saw a working forge, which was fun, and then over to the weavers. There was a weighted loom set up, and a dye-pot bubbling over a fire, but both were unattended. There were two women sat spindling, and two girls plaiting their hair. I wanted to talk to them about the loom and the spinning, but don't think they were in the mood. It took ages for me to catch their attention to ask a question (about whether there were any top whorl spindles), but the answer was a brief 'not this period' sort of thing.

I just gave up at that point and left - irritatingly I even forgot to take photos of the loom. I'm just kicking myself for being cowed so easily: I should've asked more questions! It was just hard when they were all talking amongst themselves... Ah well, I'm a knitter, a wheel spinner and a top whorl spindler - totally the wrong period - even I am doing a post-graduate degree in Classics ;)

More stash and some whoooooooooorls

I was in Newcastle-upon-Tyne at the weekend. I was thrilled to see an Oxfam Superstore - in this version of Oxfam everything is a set, cheap, price. There used to be one in Manchester and it was great, but has sadly changed into an overpriced Oxfam Emporium. Sadly, the Oxfam Superstore in Newcastle was not great. I was hoping for lots of great jumpers to frog, but there were none! No knitwear at all. I began to worry that maybe now it is April the charity shops are putting their knitwear away for most of the year.

So today I went round the charity shops near me:


From the top:

• Navy bloke's jumper; thick gauge; 55% ramie, 45% cotton (I don't actually know what ramie is); £3. (I think this may well become my brewing idea - I had planned it to be 100% cotton and black, but that sort of jumper is thin on the grounds right now).
  
• White bloke's jumper; thin gauge; 100% cotton; £1.99. Hopefully might be suitable for using to dye with.
  
• Long-sleeved, roll neck, burgundy/ plum, size 14 top; very very fine gauge; 100% silk; £2.75. Maybe suitable for lace - I didn't realise how shiny silk was! There was a black top as well, from the same company. Once I'd left the shop I thought I could've got it and spun the two colours together, but it was an extra pound (£ not lb) with short sleeves and a regular round neck. I'll look out for something else.
  
• Black size 16 chunky cardie; chunky gauge; 70% acrylic and 30% wool but so snugly!; £4.50. Quite pricey but I need some black yarn ;) Plus it's got great giant press-studs and looks hardly worn.

Other than the Oxfam disappointment, Newcastle was fun. We went on a trip to Housesteads on Hadrian's Wall, and I took a photo of the spindle whorls they had in the museum.



They're tiny! Teeny teeny tiny. Kinda brought home just how thin the thread they would spin was - I'd fill one of those spindles in about 5 minutes ;)

Anyway. I've been knitting slowly - Hug is over half done now. I've done a little more on Tempting as well. At the moment I'm getting ready to go away for a little holiday and I need to decide what knitting to take. Maybe all my UFOs!

Stashbusters!

I've just joined the Stashbusters blog! It seems like a cool way of forcing myself to use up my stash (she says about to place another order for more fibre). In a way I half wish I had a huge stash so I could make random exciting projects - instead, while I have lots of balls of yarn, they are all small balls of crappy yarn in random colours. Hey ho.

I restarted the slippers in a different yarn, but didn't unravel what I'd already done. I'll have to see where they take me!

I practiced spinning again last night, both on the spindle and the wheel. I've got the hang of drafting a bit more, but I think I need to fiddle about with my tension (on the wheel). I think I also have a slow whorl for thick yarns, which might explain why I'm struggling to get consistent thin yarn! I think I'll follow the advice in the Mabel Ross book and completely skew the tension, so that I know what it's like definitely wrong! My main problem on the spindle is joining more fibre; I have that problem on the wheel too, but I have other wheel-issues ;)

I have no idea what I'll do with all this practice wool I'm spinning... hopefully it will felt!