Handspun Wensleydale

Some more hand spun and dyed Wensleydale fleece, this takes time and effort to prepare but the fleece is soft with a good sheen and takes dye very well. I want the skeins to be various merges of lilac, blue, mauve, pink etc. When I have enough I intend to knit the adult surprise jacket from EZ's book, but I may have other ideas for it by then.

Much travelled EZ Fairisle Pattern

Gosh, this has taken me ages to knit, its been picked up and put down more times than my glass of wine and is much travelled, having been all over the country in the camper van, however it's nearly there now, provided I don't undo the sleeves again which is a strong possibility. The main garment was knitted in Elizabeth Zimmerman's 3 plus 1 fairisle pattern and knitted in the round from the bottom up, then divided at the underarm for the sleeves. Knitted in various brands of DK cotton. The sleeves were picked up and knitted from the top down.

Travels to Charmouth

Have just returned from spending a few days at Charmouth, great site to stay on a few hundred yards from the Jurassic coast, we went fossil hunting, with daughter and grandaughter, the Saturday was warm and sunny and the fossil hunters were out in force. Daughter and grandaughter found some small ones, I found none but as we were strolling along the beach I saw a stone I think may be a fossil and I like the shape for a paperweight. As it was such a relaxing site I caught up with some knitting and have made progress on the zip front jacket I am knitting in Debbie Bliss DK cotton, a pleasant blueish green, or possibly greenish blue!

Spinning the Jacob Fleece

The first two skeins of jacob fleece roving, it's so easy to spin from a roving and its amazing how quickly it goes along, I'm not sure what I will want to knit with this yet, but I think it could look good as a fairisle - perhaps with some dark red, white and black in fairly traditional pattern, it would make a warm jumper for the my husband, who has never complained about the sewing, knitting, spinning etc taking over the home, and who apart from mending the equipment also made me an inkle loom!

Dyeing with Dylon Cold Water Dye

Have had time to play with some more yarn dyeing and this time I used Dylon cold water dyes, dyeing ramie, bamboo and tussah silk. The colour was called sea green and gave different effect on each fibre. Very easy to use just mix the powder, add the sachet of fix and salt and then leave to soak. I just carried on using until the colour was exhausted. This could be a good method of overdyeing any yarn that you did not like. The cold water dye only works on natural fibres. In the picture the top is the tussah silk, on the left is the ramie and the bamboo on the right. Approximately 200 grams of each was dyed.

Travels Interrupted

We were having a great time, touring around in the motorhome, the weather in Scotland had been wonderful and the sunsets at the site at North Ledaig were spectacular. Going gently along the A82, someone left a hotel exit and forgot which country he was driving in, so drove straight into the side of us. Lots of damage to be repaired but he did admit full liability to us and the police and at least no one was hurt. So lots more time for knitting and spinning then!

We certainly saw some wonderful places, and at Scoon we had a tame pheasant who called early in the morning for his breakfast!



This is the view at North Ledaig, great walks along the sea shore in both directions.

Yarn Dyeing

Had fun dyeing two skeins of yarn spun from a kent fleece, semi worsted spun. One was painted in patches and the other in a blended effect. The skeins were wrapped in clingfilm and steamed on a rack in an old electric frypan for 30 mins. I think I prefer the heather blend to the patches one, but this may change after swatching. The skeins weigh just over 60 grms each.