The Arm Warmers Story

Hi Everyone

Today, I'm featuring the story of The Arm Warmers. This project has been running fo some time - way back in October, I made some hand warmers/Mits in a knitting workshop. I loved the workshop experience and learned lots of new techniques (to me). However, the completed Mits, didn't quite work for me.

                            

The pattern gave quite a bulky thumb gusset and I decided after much consideration that the thumb part didn't sit well on my hand. I re worked the thumb several times and was still not totally convinced I liked the finished design. Then, last Friday (at my knit group) a friend was wearing a lovely set of arm warmers in a beautiful Fairisle pattern. I tried the arm warmers and could have taken them home with me. I loved the idea immediately. As a result, the re working of the Mits stopped and I started the arm warmers instead.

Ive retained the lovely surface pattern of the Mits and adapted the pattern to accommodate the increased width of my arms. I also liked the sideways knitting technique of the pattern and wanted to keep this element, I also needed to adapt the pattern to increase the length in order to fit my arm.

I've completed the first arm warmer - needs finishing but I'm thrilled with the result. 

                               

The moral of this story is 'never be satisfied with knitting unless you love it' !

Thanks for calling in today.

New Hand Painted Yarn

Hi Everyone

I've had great success this weekend with my latest hand painted yarn. The colour was inspired by a new Dovestone Yarn colour called Brass Band (check it out here https://baaramewe.co.uk/?variant=29178382792). I saw the actual yarn at my local knit group on Friday and immediately knew the colour I wanted to make. I'm considering using some of the Dovestone yarn (Brass Band) alongside my hand spun for a new shawl. I have several little balls of leftover Dovestone in a variety of colours and am going to find a way of using them together.

                           

I used my usual method of microwaving the yarn after painting. The last few yarn painting sessions have been rather poor, lots of colour loss and not good consistency of colour ! However, this time everything worked perfectly. I love the colour but not sure how it will look side by side with the Dovestone Brass Band ? I will check out the colours later this week. I have some blue/grey yarn to add to the yarn stash and will develop more colours when I find the right shawl pattern.

I'm hoping to repeat my success later today with some navy dye. This time I will dye some wool for spinning. 

Thanks for calling in today.

Making News

Hi Everyone

My post today is following on from yesterday's spinning story. I've finished the batch of my latest spin (read back yesterday for details) and have plyed the two bobbins. I illustrated that although the two bobbins were similar in colour - each had a distinct either purple or green bias. In plying the yarn - it looks very green. But on closer examination, there are many colour layers going on. 

                                 

After plying, I immediately wanted to give the yarn batch a name. When I think about the yarn, I'm reminded of a particular field of Heathers in Northumberland, very close to Rothbury. I see all the colours of the yarn in this field (in my mind) from a visit several years ago. So, I've called the yarn Northumberland Heather. As mentioned yesterday, I will need to spin more yarn and will dye the next yarn in solid colours, picking up each colour from the Northumberland Heather batch. So satisfying to have this plan under development.

I'm also sharing a little project I was working on yesterday. It's a Making Workshop project for next week. The photo shows a couple of quilled cards.

                            

I feel, the photo doesn't quite do the cards justice - the card on the left is a very pretty item (in real life) with lovely colours. I've taken inspiration from an 

Angie Lewin print. My version is much simplified but the colours and shapes are similar. 

The other card is another great idea from Pinterest - clouds and coloured rain drops - all made from paper. I love the idea that thin bits of delicate paper  become so strong when they are quilled in this way. I had a lovely time messing about with paper and glue.

Thanks for calling in today. Have a great weekend.

Almost there !

Hi Everyone

I'm almost there with my latest spinning project. The hand painted wool roving has turned into a fine single ply yarn and will get plyed together later today. I'll wash it and hopefully be able to start knitting my tunic (read back to Monday for details).

                                 

I'm slightly surprised to see the two half of my spin - together. As I was spinning, the wool seemed to be very similar. When the two bobbins are side by side, the colours are very different. It's going to be interesting to see how the yarn turns out after being plyed.

I've learned quite a few things about hand painting with this project. I did paint the wool in seven distinctive ways, each length of roving started with a pattern. However, I blended the single colours because it seemed there was too much single colour going on (during the spin) and I'm not convinced the other yarn would be too different if I'd randomly painted the whole roving in one batch ? I need more experiments to decide.

It will be very interesting to see how the yarn knits up. My tunic is a good design to show the colours and their dye patterns. I will need lots more yarn so I'm already starting to dye more roving. Let's hope, I can produce the right colours to compliment the first batch. I've decided to go for a range of plain colours taken from this initial yarn batch rather than repeating the batch patterns. I'm estimating, I will need four or five more batches and will choose a range of purple colours, taken from this spin.

Thanks for calling in today.

Bead Weaving

Hi Everyone 

I'm sharing the beginings of a little experiment with bead weaving today. I've had this basic loom for many years and almost forgot I had it. I was inspired to play with the look after playing with my recent beaded knitting projects. I wanted to find a way of neatly adding a concentrated beaded pattern to knitted pieces.

                                    

I've chosen a range of green seed beads which I've threaded in a random fashion. The finished beaded piece will form part of my knitted jewellery range. I'm hoping to develop a knitted base for my beaded piece. I've planned to add more beading onto the knitted part to link the whole design - I'm still a little undecided about how ? I think, I will simply stitch the beads in place. I'm still in the design stage so I'm not sure exactly it will turn out ? When finished, the piece should (hopefully) form a pendant style component for a necklace. I'm hoping I can also develop other ideas for a bracelet and earrings using a similar idea. I should have more to share by the end of the week.

Thanks for calling in today.