Bad Blogger

It has almost been 6 months since I have posted on Blogger, well here is an update -
This is my PIF gift from Gilraen's Knits (Margaret). She used Posh Yarn 'Emily' in pomegranite colour which is a combination of Lambswool/Angora and Cashmere to make this pair of 'Monkeys'. Also included in the parcel was a stitch marker with 2 animals on and Fair Trade Chocolate. Thankyou Margaret, the socks fit perfectly! A really special PIF parcel.



This is the 'Landscape Scarf' from FibreTrends knit in Shantung Sunbeam yarn (65%silk 35%wool?). The pattern was given to me in the last Knitter's Tea Swap, I have just started on the huge shawl! (Yes, there is part of a cat in the picture.)



This scarf is going to be a present, it is a Fishtail Lace pattern, using SWT Karaoke yarn, 3 balls of it.


This was the PIF gift for Ron Miskin from Buffalo Gold who very generously gave me the Buffalo fibre. I posted the other two gifts a while ago but have not heard from either recipient, please let me know if the gifts have reached you.



Some spinning - the first picture is the fiber from the first KTS I joined in with, the second pic is the rest of the fleece a friend gave me.


This next piccie is the fibre from the most recent KTS as one ply and the other ply is a wool/silk/cashmere combination. The last single ball is entirely of wool/silk/cashmere combination.


I downloaded these pictures onto Photobucket and perhaps forgot to save the changes, hence the reason why they are not all upright.

Buffalo Gold Gifts

This is the gift that Ron Miskin gave to me via the PIF post - 2 ounces of Buffalo Gold fibre so that I can try and spin and knit the moss stitch scarf from the website. I am thrilled it has finally arrived safely, thank you Ron for your kindness, really looking forward to starting this project!

Operation Christmas Child 2007

This year my Mum and I filled 2 shoe boxes, both for 10-14's, one for a boy and one for a girl for Operation Christmas Child. You can knit finger puppets and hats for the boxes if you want, follow the link . It is amazing the difference a shoebox filled with gifts can make to a child take a look at the video on the website for more information.

My new Kromski Symphony

This is my new wheel from Wingham Wool Work that I got for a bargain price as it had been water damaged from the floods a couple of months ago, it had minimal damage to the varnish and I thought it was coming unfinished but to my surprise it had a clear finish which was just what I would have given it so my Dad helped me assemble it and I just need to adjust the flyer as the bobbins stick on one side before I can start spinning. It also came with the lazy kate.

Embroidery Cards

These are some cards I have started stitching for Christmas, I thought I would build up a range of them and perhaps next year go to a craft event and try and sell them on a stall.

KTS4

My box of goodies came a week or so ago, after catching up from a holiday in France I have finally got round to posting about it! The teas are wonderful, strong and really good with milk, I think the Supreme Breakfast is my favourite! Babette sent me some fibre from her Angora bunnies and I will have fun blending and spinning this some time in the future! The sweets well I have left out some Maple Syrup candies as they got eaten and I forgot to photograph them before this, and my sister is having a birthday this week so we will consume the pancakes with maple syrup for her birthday breakfast. The card sent with the gifts is very apt, thank you Babette for a really fabulous KTS swap!

Pink for October

Breast Cancer Awareness - Think Pink

Pay It Forward

Pay It Forward
I've been reading about the Pay It Forward exchange on a few blogs, and finally decided to sign up on Gilraen's blog. Here's the deal:

It’s the Pay It Forward Exchange. It’s based on the concept of the movie “Pay it Forward” where acts or deeds of kindness are done without expecting something in return, just passing it on, with hope that the recipients of the acts of kindness are passed on. You all know I’m already a PIF type of person. So here’s how it works. I will make and send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I do not know what that gift will be yet, and it won’t be sent this month, probably not next month, but it will be sent (within 6 months) and that’s a promise! What YOU have to do in return, then, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.I will send to anywhere in the World as long as it doesn't involve space travel ;)

Hats for Age Concern on Innocent Drinks

This is 100g merino handspun hand-dyed yarn that I spun and dyed as one of my first projects, finally now I have found a use for it!

10 little hats that I knitted over the last couple of days, I found some small bobbles in my local remanent shop which I think just finish the hats off. Every bottle with a hat on has 50p donated to Age Concern when they are placed on Innocent Smoothie Bottles, they can be found at Sainsburys and other participating stores. The hatted drinks will be on sale from November 7th -21st, so look out for them and get buying the drinks! Click here for the website, patterns and progress.

Silk Yarn

The singles spun up. The caps weighed the same but it looked like I had spun a lot more onto the top bobbin but when I plied them the yardage matched with about 20cm left over on the top bobbin!

27g of silk caps spun into 242yds of a gorgeous sea coloured varigated 2 ply hand dyed, hand spun yarn, at a guess because I forgot to check before winding into a ball I think it would be fingering weight to heavy laceweight. I always seem to have a lot of dye come out when setting the twist even though after the initial dyeing I washed the caps until the water ran clear, maybe I am abit heavy handed with dyes as I like strong colours!
Any suggestions for a small project in which I could use this silk?

Silk Cap Preparation

After almost all of my first week of annual leave spent mostly indoors as there was sooooo much rain we finally had a really sunny, hot day of gorgeous weather so I sat in the garden separating and thinning 1 of my silk caps the bottom one from the previous post, so silky and shimmery in the sunlight although these photos are taken indoors.

Ready for spinning!

This is a full bobbin of the roving Iris gave me as part of the Knitters Tea Swap 3, I hope they do another, it was fun. This must be about 2-3oz of roving from the 8oz she gave me.

Batt Swap & Silk Cap Dyeing

After moving house about 3 weeks ago I have started to settle in, hence the reason for lack of postings!

*******Read on about the batt swap******


I have random dyed 2 lots of silk caps by sprinkling some dyes across the silk caps and having sealed them in ClingFilm, then I microwaved them for about 10 mins as our microwave is only 600watts! Now waiting for them to dry and them to give them a beating, as the fibres have stuck together abit.


These are some batts I made before moving, they weigh approx 390g together and are a combination of 80%merino/20%soy silk, 80%linen/20%silk noils, variety of different colours of alpaca. There is at least 60g in each batt, they are light and airy and wonderfully soft, all being heathered shades of similar colours.


************My offer is I would love to try spinning some Buffalo Gold fibre to make the Unisex Double Moss Stitch Scarf with Optional Scalloped Edging shown below which takes 2oz of buffalo gold fibre to make, but the only supplier to the UK has stopped trading so I am finding it very difficult to locate and buy any of the fibre. I realise 2oz of the buffalo gold down is very expensive so I am looking for offers, if anyone would like all of my batts (the ones shown below)to spin I would be willing to swap them for at least 1oz of buffalo gold roving, please contact me Rachel.spinning@virgin.net and make me an offer************

Closeups of the 5 batts seen in the photo above.