Friday 26 August 2011

Working up a storm

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I've gotten over the problems with my thumb now, and am in the process of working my fingers off to make up for the 3 week lack. First, I decided I'd get back into knitting with a simple little pouch. I'm going to be starting up larp (live action role play) again in October after a 4 year break. A few months ago, I had decided that I was never going back because of my health, so I sold or gave away all my stuff. I don't have tons of extra money to buy more, so I decided to make some things. I started a crocheted bottle holder, but crochet was still a little painful, so I started a knitted belt pouch instead. Using some yarn that will felt nicely, I knitted up a little bag, then decided to make one for my friend Katherine Last as well. She chose red for her colour, so it's being made from a Cascade 220 skein that I've had floating around for awhile now. I've also promised Peter Godfrey one, which will be black and white and not felted.

I did eventually get that water bottle holder done, a few days after my pouch. It's all chain and single crochet, so it's very easy and quick to make up. I had thought I might attach a loop to it so it will go on a belt too, but I'm worried the weight of a water bottle might pull the belt down, so I might just put it on a strap like the pattern has.

I've also done some more work on a shrug I'm making, and almost have that finished. I don't have any pictures yet, so I'll blog about that more later when it's done.

Last, but certainly  not least, is the spinning. Spinning hurt my hand after both knitting and crochet ceased to, so it was the last I got back into after the injury. I was running low on the BFL I had been practising with, so I sat down one day and spun the rest of that, then over the course of that and the next day plied it. One thing I've noticed with this particular fibre is that it's very, very fluffy. When I was spinning it, little bits of it would refuse to spin and just be piles of fluff attached to a nice bit of spun yarn. There were also places it just would not spin nicely, and was really quite underspun. It's funny, because on the spindle and on the wheel I tried before, I was overspinning. I've since played a bit with the tension on my wheel and figured out how to spin it more evenly, but for this fibre, it turned out to be very thick-thin, with bits that weren't even spun very well in there. It makes for a very strange looking finished project. It's still on the bobbin; I really need to wind it off and wash it, but I was so eager to get started on this lovely blue stuff that I left it, and haven't gotten back to it in the few days since. Isn't it gorgeous though? I was buying fibre at Forest Fibre and saw this and just *had* to get it. It's a combination of merino and silk (80/20%) and is proving just divine to spin with. It's not quite so fluffy as the BFL, but I think that may be down to the fact that it's dyed. I'm enjoying working with it more than the BFL though. I wish I'd gotten more than 100g. I've already done 50, and can't wait to do the other 50.  Tomorrow, I will start spinning the rest, then ply it. Already, it's more even than my last batch of spinning, with no little fluffy bits to mar the look of the final product. I'm planning to make a hat out of it. It looks just as stunning spun as it does in fibre form:
I shall leave you with this amazing image.

1 comment:

  1. Great spinning! Love the colour. Just signed up to follow your blog. We met on Ravelry!! Must get a Ravelry blinkie for my blog.

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